THE strong rise in retail sales figures for May provides further evidence of strong growth in the economy. Retail sales in May were 10.9 per cent ahead of the same month last year, and 0.4 per cent ahead of those recorded in May, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The retail sales index is always volatile, but in recent months has been on a steady upward trend. The CSO figures show that in the three months ended in May the value of, sales was 9.5 per cent higher than the same period last year and 3.9 per cent higher than in the previous three months.

Separate CSO figures published yesterday show that manufacturing production was 2.9 per cent higher in March than the previous month. The increase follows two months of declining production, with a sharp 7.9 per cent fall in February.

Production was 11.8 per cent ahead of the same month last year compared to an 11.6 per cent rise in the previous month. However, this is below the annual increases of 20 per cent or more shown towards the end of last year and in January this year.