Ireland March retail sales down 2.8 pct due to snowstorm

DUBLIN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Ireland March retail sales went down by 2.2 percent and 2.8 percent respectively compared with the previous month of February and the month of March in 2017, said the Irish national statistics bureau CSO on Friday.

While only two out of the 13 retail sectors covered by the CSO surveys, namely Goods and Bars, posted volume increases of 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent respectively in March over February, all the other 11 sectors reported monthly decreases in volume terms, said CSO.

The sectors with the largest monthly volume falls in March were Hardware, Paints and Glass (down 11.4 percent), and Furniture and Lighting (down 8.4 percent), it said.

Alan McQuaid, an economist with Merrion Fixed Income, an economic and bond research unit, attributed the March retail sales decreases mainly to the impact of a severe snowstorm that hit the entire Ireland at the start of March, which resulted in days of closures of many businesses in the country.

Despite the disruptions of the snowstorm in March, the Irish retail sales sector still recorded a year-on-year growth of 0.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, said McQuaid.

McQuaid and his team predicted in a Merrion report that the Irish retail sales sector will continue to grow by 1 percent to 1.5 percent in 2018 though at a rate lower than that of 2017.

"Looking ahead to 2018, we think personal spending will post another positive rise as the unemployment rate drops below 6 percent and disposable incomes rise," he said. Enditem