U.K. Retail Sales Index Declined in March, CBI Survey Shows
U.K. retail sales dropped this month as consumers tightened spending while the recession deepened, the Confederation of British Industry said.
The survey of retailers showed a net 44 percent reporting lower sales this month, compared with a net 25 percent in February, the biggest U.K. business lobby said today in London. The group canvassed 78 companies from Feb. 24 to March 11.
The central bank took the unprecedented step this month of creating money to buy assets in a bid to boost spending and stem the worst recession in a generation. Governor Mervyn King told lawmakers in Parliament yesterday that the “very weak” U.K. economy will continue to contract this quarter.
“The recession continues to force consumers to reexamine every item of spending,” Andy Clarke, chairman of the CBI Distributive Trades Panel and chief operating officer of Wal- Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda business, said in a statement paydayloans.com. “With unemployment rising and household incomes struggling, the high street faces some testing times ahead.”
Debenhams Plc, the second-largest U.K. clothing department chain, said March 17 first-half same-store sales dropped as the economic slump and winter storms dissuaded shoppers.
The U.K. economy shrank 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter, the most since 1980. King told lawmakers yesterday he expects a similar rate of contraction in the first quarter this year.
The bank has embarked on a program to spend as much as 150 billion pounds ($219 billion) to buy U.K. government debt, corporate bonds and other assets with newly created money in order to ease credit strains and encourage spending.