International Business: UK shoppers slash December spending – Gulf Digital News

International Business: UK shoppers slash December spending – Gulf Digital News

LONDON: British retail sales slumped in December after consumers did much of their Christmas shopping earlier than usual in November and many people stayed at home due to the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Economists said the scale of the hit bolstered their expectations that the world’s fifth-biggest economy shrank last month under the strain of Omicron and new government restrictions to slow its spread.

Sales volumes fell by 3.7 per cent from November, a far bigger hit than the 0.6pc decline forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and the biggest fall since January of last year when the country was under a coronavirus lockdown.

Compared with December 2020, sales volumes were down by 0.9pc, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday.

The Reuters poll had pointed to a 3.4pc rise in sales in annual terms.

“After strong pre-Christmas trading in November, retail sales fell across the board in December, with feedback from retailers suggesting Omicron impacted on footfall,” ONS Deputy Director for Surveys Heather Bovill said.

“As Plan B restrictions in England meant more people working from home, there was a notable fall for fuel sales,” she added, referring to government measures to tackle the pandemic.

But retail sales remained stronger than