Retail sales increase25 Aug 2020 09:49
From Reuters
Description: Retail sales are bouncing back faster than expected in the UK, but with jobless numbers forecast to surge, economists say the recovery could prove short lived. Julian Satterthwaite reports. Short Link: https://refini.tv/3hhutWX Video Transcript:
UK shoppers are back in a bigger way than expected. New data Friday showed retail sales in July surged past pre-crisis levels. Volumes were up 3.6% from June above all economists’ forecasts. Compared with February, before the crisis really hit home, they were up 3%. The numbers show retailing enjoying a much faster bounce back than most of the economy, but the headline figure masks very different stories for different types of shops. Supermarkets and food stores have enjoyed robust growth as people eat more at home. Household goods shops have also done well as locked-down consumers spend on their homes. But clothing and footwear stores have really suffered with sales still down 25% on a year ago. Companies including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Dixon's Carphone, and WHSmith have announced thousands of redundancies as sales stay weak. The damage to government finance is evident too. Separate figures Friday showed total public debt soaring past 2 trillion pounds for the first time. That's $2.65 trillion. Now, unemployment numbers are forecast to rise sharply once the government job support scheme stops at the end of October. Many economists think that means the recovery in retail spending could prove short-lived