The value of retail sales rose 2.6 per cent in March, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office.

Over the 12 months from March 1999 retail sales rose 16.7 per cent compared with an annual rate of 18.4 per cent in February and 19.1 per cent in January.

On a three month basis which irons out many anomalies retail sales were up 17.9 per cent at the end of March compared with 15.6 per cent at the end of February.

The largest increase in the volume of sales was in textile and clothing which were up 11.4 per cent in the three month to the end of February. The largest fall was in books, newspapers and stationery which showed a fall of 4.9 per cent in the same three months.