Retail figures show 0.7% rise

Date: 20th February 2009

British retail figures rose by 0.7 per cent during January, official statistics have shown, as consumers took advantage of heavy discounting.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics revealed that sales also increased by 3.6 per cent over the same month in 2008.

While measures such as the government VAT cut have arguably led to the rise in spending, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) believes that the statistics do not necessarily indicate an improvement in the economic situation.

David Kern, chief economist at the BCC, said: "These better-than-expected retail sales figures may still be distorted by heavy end of year discounting.

"Nevertheless, they show a possible resilience in consumer spending which needs to be nurtured."

He added that the improvement could "fizzle out" in the near future if further government support was not provided.

Data published by the British Retail Consortium earlier this month showed consumer sales in London soared by 6.5 per cent year-on-year during January.