High Street Sales Hit Three-Year Low
The High Street suffered its worst performance for three years in April as retail sales fell for the second month in a row.
Clothing and footwear stores were worst hit as like-for-like sales fell 1.5%, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
This followed a 1.6% drop in sales in March - and the BRC believes the trend is likely to continue.
BRC Director-general Stephen Robertson said higher fuel and utility bills were partly to blame.
They were “eating away at people’s spare cash” and shoppers were putting food before other items.
“Retailers will look to the recent sunny weather to provide some boost, ” said Mr Robertson.
“But with the economic fundamentals remaining weak, there seems no reason for these tough trading conditions to improve soon.”
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UK inflation jumps to 3% in April
UK consumer inflation reached its highest level in 13 months driven by high food and fuel costs, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) hit 3% on an yearly basis in April, up from 2.5% in March, it said.
The monthly inflation rate was 0.8%, the biggest leap since May 2001. The Retail Prices Index hit 4.2% from 3.8%.
The inflation data would probably stop the Bank of England cutting interest rates in the near term, analysts said.
However, they added that the main drivers of price growth were fuel and food costs, which higher interest rates did little to control or rein in.