UK Retail Sales Recovered Less in December

Official data revealed that British retailers struggled to recover in December from partial lockdown measures the previous month, marking a weak end to their worst year on record, while public borrowing rose to its highest levels since 1962.

These numbers bode poorly for Britain’s economy in early 2021, as it appears that the economy will move in the opposite direction under pressure from new measures to combat Covid-19 introduced in January.

The British Office for National Statistics said that retail sales volumes increased 0.3% in December, far below economists’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2% increase, with sales up only 2.9% compared to their level a year ago.

In 2020 as a whole, retail sales fell 1.9%, the biggest full-year decline since data began in 1996, and clothing sales plunged by more than a quarter.