After recording strong growth in December and January, retail spending fell at the sharpest pace in nine years in February, plunging by 2 per cent, ABS data showed yesterday.
Nevertheless Australian Retailers Association (ARA) executive director Richard Evans remains cautiously optimistic about the sector's propsects and emphasised that February was always a quiet time for retailers.
"While families deal with back to school costs and hangover credit card bills from Christmas, February is always the hardest month for retailers and the negative growth reflected normal consumer behaviour at this time of year.”
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Mr Evans said the next round of stimulus payments go some way towards boosting retail activity.
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