British retail sales showed unexpected resilience in April, falling less than expected thanks to a rush to buy computer games, new data show today.
The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes fell for the second straight month, down 0.2% from March, bringing the annual rate of increase down to 4.2% from an upwardly revised 4.7% in March.
Analysts had forecast a monthly fall of 0.5% and March's monthly figures were also revised to show a smaller decline. The UK consumer could be proving more resilient in the wake of the credit crunch than other surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest.
The ONS singled out the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 and the Wii-Fit computer games for the better than expected showing.
However, other sales were fairly soft. Food store sales fell 1% month-on-month, while textile and clothing sales fell at their fastest year-on-year rate since October 1998.
April's fall marked the first consecutive monthly decrease in sales volumes since January 2006 and the Bank of England has said it expects consumer spending to weaken, perhaps sharply, this year.
The figures are unlikely to alter expectations that the Bank of England will keep interest rates on hold for the rest of the year, as inflation fears are currently outweighing any worries about an economic slowdown.
Policymakers have said the economy needs to weaken to help bring inflation back to the 2% target. Consumer price inflation spiked to to 3% in April.
