The wettest February on record did not dampen Britons’ appetite for new spring outfits as retail sales boosted the UK economy.
Analysts predicted a 0.3 percent fall in high street spending in February, but official figures show this remained the same.
It gives experts confidence that Britain has been lifted out of recession. Official GDP figures show that the economy has been driven by retail sales so far this year.
Rob Wood of Pantheon Macroeconomics predicted that retail sales would continue to grow strongly in the first three months of the year, “helping the economy emerge from last year’s recession.”
It comes at a time when data from GfK shows that consumer confidence has turned positive for the first time in more than two years. Household disposable incomes are finally rising as wages rise in tandem with food price inflation energy accounts fall.
Deloitte’s Oliver Vernon-Harcourt said: “Better days are ahead as the short-lived and shallow recession is behind us and inflation is at its lowest level in two years.
“The high street can be hopeful that lower prices will support higher spending and footfall.”
The office Good performance by clothing stores and department stores has offset declining food and fuel sales, according to National Statistics.
Heather Bovill of the ONS said clothing growth was “recovering after recent declines as people invested in new season collections”.
Much of the spending was done online, with a 2.1 percent increase in internet spending in February.
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