Volume of retail sales increase by 2.8% in April

Michael Bolton

New statistics from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show an increase of 2.8 per cent in the volume of retail sales in April.

This is an increase of 7.5 per cent compared to April 2022, with an increase of 0.5 per cent in sales compared to March, and 0.4 per cent compared to last year.

In April, the biggest monthly volume increase of sales was in bars with a 14 per cent jump, with a 10.3 per cent increase in motor trades, and in clothing, footwear and textiles, there was an increase of 9.5 per cent.

The motor industry saw the largest annual volume growth at 18.1 per cent, with books, newspapers and stationery experiencing a 5.9 per cent increase in the last year, and fuel increasing a 5.5 per cent volume in growth.

Food, beverages and tobacco saw a decline of 7.8 per cent in volume in the last year, with furniture and lighting stores seeing an annual decline of 6.4 per cent.