Irish retail sales rose in August after falling in the two preceding months, giving economists hope some bleak forecasts for the ailing economy may have been exaggerated.
The value of retail sales rose by 0.6 per cent in August from the previous month and rose 4.8 per cent year-on-year, provisional figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed today.
"Obviously, the jury is out as to what will show up from the September 11 attacks, but while a slowdown is under way it's happening in a controlled fashion," Mr Austin Hughes, chief economist at IIB Bank, said.
The CSO revised a provisional month-on-month figure for July to show value down 0.6 per cent and pared the July year-on-year figure to 5.8 per cent - from a fall of 0.2 per cent and a rise of 6.2 per cent, respectively.
On a three-month basis, which gives a more stable indication of recent underlying trends, the June-August volume data showed a 0.4 per cent increase compared with the preceding three-month period.
"The key thing is that any weakness in the retail data this year is due to a fall in car sales. If you strip those out there really isn't much sign that the economy is falling off a cliff the way some people seem to think it is," said Mr Dermot O'Brien, chief economist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin.
Overall retail sales growth in 2000 was 11.9 per cent compared to 2.2 per cent this year, but excluding car sales there is a difference of less than 1 per cent, he said.
Annual sales growth has fallen back from a 16.2 per cent peak in December 1999 as the effects of the global economic slowdown affect the economy.