Retail sales paint a picture of hard times for consumers
September 23, 2008
Johannesburg – Consumers are being hard hit by the combined pressure of interest rate hikes and rising food and fuel prices, data show.
Retail sales fell by 4.6 percent in July, compared to an upwardly revised contraction of 1.5 percent in June, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
In the three months to the end of July, retail sales - a key measure of consumer demand – fell by 3.4 percent compared to the same period the previous year, also at constant prices.
Nedbank senior economist Nicky Weimar said: "It tells the story of the pressure on the consumer. We've seen it in the credit numbers, we've seen it in the defaults in the banking system and that's really the combined effect of high prices, high interest rates and fairly high levels of debt.”
She said it indicated “we probably are very close to the (interest rates) turning cycle. In fact we believe that we probably are."
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