Irish shoppers went on a spending spree last Christmas in the run up to the introduction of the euro but the last minute splurge masks a sharp slowdown in personal spending in 2001.
According to figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the value of retail sales rose by 11.9 per cent in December 2001 compared to December 2000.
The volume of retail sales (i.e. excluding price effects) increased by 9.1 per cent in December 2001 compared to December 2000.
However longer term figures show a decline in retail sales throughout 2001 which is consistent with the slowdown in the Irish economy.
The volume of retail sales rose by only 3.1 per cent in 2001 compared to a rise of nearly 12 per cent in 2000 and 9.5 per cent in 1999.
Quarter-on-quarter sales remained flat for most of the year and shrank by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter before recovering in the September to December quarter as Irish shoppers rushed to spend their last punts and pence.
Today’s figures support the view that Irish consumers reined in spending as the economy weakened in 2001. Exchequer returns from the Department of Finance show VAT receipts were 10 percentage points lower than Government estimates due to the softening of consumer spending.