Andy Bruce and Suban Abdulla
LONDON (Reuters) – British retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, official data showed on Friday, adding to a string of poor economic indicators that are likely to further fuel expectations for a Bank of England rate cut next month.
Retail sales, adjusted to include Black Friday sales at the start of the month, fell 0.3% month-on-month in December after a downwardly revised 0.1% rise in November, the Office for National Statistics said.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.4% monthly rise in sales volume from November.
“This was driven by a very poor month for food sales, which fell to their lowest level since 2013, with supermarkets particularly affected,” said ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach.
Sterling fell about a quarter of a cent against the US dollar after the data, falling below $1.22.
Retail sales for the fourth quarter as a whole fell by 0.8%, something the ONS said was likely to drag down economic growth in the fourth quarter by around 0.04 percentage points.
