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Ireland's retail sales down 2.5 percent in May

Xinhua, June 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

The volume of Ireland's retail sales decreased by 2.5 percent in May 2015 when compared with April 2015, according to official figures on Monday.

Nevertheless, the figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that there was an increase of 7.4 percent on an annual basis.

Sales of books, newspapers and stationery rose by 7.6 percent on a monthly basis, while electrical goods increased by 3.2 percent and bar sales were up 1.2 percent, according to the CSO figures.

The sectors with the largest monthly decreases were food, beverages and tobacco with sales down 4.8 percent, the CSO said.

Commenting on Monday's figures, Ireland's economist Philip O'Sullivan said that on an annual basis retail sales have now increased in both value and volume terms for 19 successive months, reflecting the upturn in the domestic economy.

"While the monthly decline in retail sales in May is something of a disappointment, our view is that the outlook for consumer spending is still rosy, supported by rising employment, benign overall inflationary pressures and expectations of lower taxes on incomes in October's pre-election budget," he said. Endit