British shoppers ignored worries about an impending Brexit deadline and spent he...
LONDON, April 18 - British shoppers ignored worries about an impending Brexit deadline and spent heavily in March, official data showed on Thursday.
Retail sales volumes surged by the most in nearly two-and-a-half years in annual terms, leaping by 6.7 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.ONS officials said the increase in part reflected the hit to spending a year ago when Britain was in the grip of the so-called “Beast from the East” snowstorms and icy weather.In monthly terms, sales jumped by 1.1 percent, defying the median forecast of a fall of 0.3 percent in the Reuters poll.
Britain was originally due to leave the European Union on March 29 but that deadline was pushed back to April 12 and then again to Oct. 31 as Prime Minister Theresa May failed to break an impasse in parliament on the terms of Brexit.Consumer spending has supported Britain’s economy through the Brexit crisis, in sharp contrast to businesses which have cut back on investment.
Despite that, the Bank of England is predicting the slowest overall economic growth for a decade this year.
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