Retail Spending In Britain Down Sharply In June (But Not Thanks To Brexit)

Retail sales in Britain were down sharply in June, but The Guardian blames the measly sales data on uncharacteristically “soggy” weather, rather than the country’s controversial vote to leave the European Union.

The Guardian says that sales figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that June sales were off even before the majority of Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum on June 23.

Sales in Britain decreased by about 0.9 percent between May and June, after rising about that same percentage between April and May.

Although the figures were compiled from May 29 until July 2, they are also the first economic sampling on what impact the reaction to the Brexit vote has had on the British economy, even though it is only looking at sales data from a little over a week after the vote.

Sales on clothing and footwear took the biggest hit in the month of June, with sales down almost 2 percent when compared to May, possibly because it was too damp for anybody to even imagine buying new ones.

Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight, told The Guardian that the June sales slump had “little to do” with Brexit, but rather, it was a natural market reaction to several months of higher-than-usual sales.

“Some correction in retail sales was always likely in June after they had seen very strong growth in May and April, and there was also a significant falling back in clothing sales due to unhelpful weather,” Archer said. “The Office for National Statistics indicated that retailers had not given any evidence of the Brexit vote having a major dampening impact.”

Still, it should be interesting to see what impact the Brexit vote does have on the British economy when those numbers finally start coming in.