February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Sales on the street are up 8.3 percent on a year ago, according to Central Statistics Office figures released at the weekend.
And savings have risen as well, so it has not all been a shopping spree.
As much as euro 177 million a month has been deposited in the Special Saving Incentive Accounts.
The indications are despite looming spending cutbacks by the government, the Irish consumer is content with his or her lot and has money to spend in the run-up to Christmas.
The largest increase in the volume of sales in the three months to August was in the pharmaceutical, medical and cosmetic articles sector up 3.6 percent.
All retail sales saw a rise of 5.2 percent on the same month last year.
IIB Bank’s chief economist, Austin Hughes, said: “These numbers are extraordinarily strong, and out of kilter with evidence coming from tax revenues which show that while the economy is not collapsing, neither is an economic upswing under way.”
Hughes urged caution and said that the current climate could not and would not sustain a spending boom of this nature.