uk retail sales climbed more sharply than expected last month returning to their prepandemic levels as discounting enticed consumers back into the shopsthe volume of goods sold in stores and online rose by 12 from january the most since october the office for national statistics said exceeding the 02 uptick expected by economists in a bloomberg surveyit was the second consecutive month in which sales beat forecasts following an upwardly revised 09 rise in januarythe data add to the impression that uk consumers are weathering the costofliving crisis better than expected and will help to bolster the bank of englands decision earlier this week to hike its base interest rate by another 25 basis points to 425 advt strongerthanexpected consumer spending will also come as a relief to prime minister rishi sunak who has vowed to boost growth in the uk and is hoping to avoid the prolonged recession that many economists had predicted earlier this yeara rise in sales for february suggests that consumer confidence is heading in the right direction after a difficult few months said aled patchett head of retail and consumer goods at lloyds bank those in the industry will be hopeful that warmer temperatures and a fall in gas prices will be the spark needed to free up disposable income amongst consumers and lead to a longer period of growthsales excluding auto fuel rose 15 sales of petrol and diesel fell 11 from january when rail strikes increased car travelthe figures leave the retail sector on course to contribute to economic growth in the first quarter retail sales will rise over the period unless march posts a drop of 17 of morehowever sales were strongest at stores that offered bargains a sign of the costofliving pressures facing consumers these included department stores where sales jumped 55 there were also strong sales of secondhand goods food sales rose 09 with anecdotal evidence of reduced spending in restaurants and takeaways because of the squeeze on budgets advt the figures come just days after it emerged that inflation had ticked up again in february bucking expectations that it would fall into single digits for the first time since august 2022 instead it climbed from 101 to 104 bloomberg published on mar 25 2023 at 0822 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app uk retail sales bank of england rishi sunak lloyds bank aled patchett lloyds homenewsindustryuk retail sales rise more than forecast as outlook brightens