British shoppers pushed their spending back to near pre-lockdown levels, official data published on Friday showed.
Retail sales rebounded almost 14 percent in June as non-essential shops reopened from lockdown, extending May’s 12-percent gains after tumbling in April.
“In June, the volume of retail sales increased by 13.9 percent when compared with May 2020 as non-food and fuel stores continue their recovery from the sharp falls experienced since the start of the coronavirus pandemic,” the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
“The two monthly increases in the volume of retail sales in May and June 2020 have brought total sales to a similar level as before the coronavirus pandemic.”
But economists said the shopping bounce was probably at the expense of spending on other things, such as eating out or going to the cinema, which remain hit by worries about the virus.
Overall UK retail sales had slumped by a record 18 percent in April after the country entered full lockdown on March 23.
With Agencies
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