Retail sales flat in January

Further evidence of economic growth grinding to a halt came today when Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said seasonally adjusted retail sales figures for January were unchanged from December.

Economists had forecast a 0.6 per cent rise.

Excluding cars, sales were up 0.1 per cent.

Actual retail sales were up 5.0 per cent in the January year against economists' forecasts of a 5.2 per cent rise.

Seasonally adjusted sales in December fell 0.3 per cent.

Sales at 15 of the 24 store groups fell in January, with the biggest falls posted by supermarket and grocery stores (down 1.5 per cent) and car sellers (down 1.5 per cent). The largest increase was for department stores (up 11.8 per cent, or $32 million).

SNZ said the trend for sales has been increasing since May 1998, with an average monthly increase of 0.5 per cent.

"However, in recent months the trend has flattened, with the average monthly increase reducing to 0.2 per cent over the six months to January 2006."

On a regional basis, the trend for Auckland and the remainder of the North Island regions decreased, while for the South Island and Wellington regions the trend increased.

ANZ National economist John Bolsover said sales had been expected to bounce back from a flat December when lower car sales dented total sales.

"I guess it's further evidence of that sustained slowdown the Reserve Bank have been looking for in terms of the New Zealand economy," he told Reuters.

Goldman Sachs economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the figures reflected a "sharp decline in consumer confidence in the closing months of 2005 and in early 2006.

"We can expect this to slow further as the downward influences of debt-servicing costs and petrol prices weigh."

- NZPA