New figures show that retail sales rose by 1.3% in August compared with the same month last year as the amount of cars, clothing and footwear being sold rose.
The Central Statistics Office says that there was also a monthly increase of 1.1% after three months of declines. Motor sales rose by 5.5% from July, while sales in department stores were up 4.6%. Cosmetic and pharmaceuticals sales rose by 3.2% in August.
If motor trades are excluded, the CSO says that the volume of retail sales decreased by 1.4% on an annual basis, while there was a monthly increase of 0.2%. Economists watch these figures closely as motor sector sales have been volatile over the past couple of years.
Breaking down the figures, they show that motor sales were up 20.4% on an annual basis, while clothing and footwear sales rose by 1.4%. Sales of furniture and lighting items fell by 10.4% while bar sales were also 10% lower in August compared with the same time last year after another 0.6% drop in the month.
The value of sales, which takes prices into account, was up 1.3% in the month but down 1.7% over 12 months.
