Official figures show that the volume of retail sales continued to grow strongly in May, with the annual rate of growth the fastest since October 2000.
The volume of sales rose by 1.4% from April, while the annual rate of growth was 9.9%, according to the Central Statistics Office. The high annual rate is partly due, however, to the comparison with a weak May last year, when motor sales were particularly poor.
The value of sales, which takes prices into account, showed a 1.5% monthly increase and an annual growth rate of 10.6%. The retail sales figures are adjusted to take seasonal changes into account.
A breakdown of the May figures show that motor trade sales fell by 1% compared with April, while department stores sales were down 3.5%. In another sign of a slowdown in housing, hardware, paints and glass sales dropped 5% in the month.
The strong increase came in the bars category, with a monthly jump of 7.3%. Food, drink and tobacco sales rose 3.5%, while electrical goods were 2.35 ahead.
Economists pointed to the effect of the maturing of SSIA accounts on the figures. Goodbody's Dermot O'Leary said that, measured on the 'more reliable' three-month moving average basis, the volume of sales grew by 8.1% compared with the same period a year earlier, its highest rate of growth since December 2000. He said purchases of big-ticket items had improved in recent months.
Bloxham's Alan McQuaid said growth in personal spending on goods in the first five months of 2007 was higher than the growth rate posted in the same period of 2006. He said this augured well for overall GDP growth this year.
'In the first five months of 2007 total retail sales were up 7.6% in volume terms on the same period last year while sales excluding motor trades were 7.3% higher than in January-May 2006,' he said.
