British retail sales volumes fell at their biggest year-on-year rate in over a decade in March, a report said today.
The Confederation of British Industry said in its monthly report - which was conducted up to March 19th, the day before the US-led war on Iraq began - that the difference between firms reporting sales up and those reporting sales down was -13 per cent.
That compared with +2 in February and retailers' expectations of +14.
The figures are likely to alarm the Bank of England, which in February cut interest rates to a 48-year low of 3.75 per cent in part to keep consumer demand going, only hours after another report showed Britain's manufacturing sector contracted at its fastest pace in more than a year in March.
Most analysts expect no change in borrowing costs next week but see further cuts in the months ahead.
Retailers expected some small upturn in sales in April but were still the most pessimistic for any time since March 1995 as the expectations balance dropped to zero.
The only sign of strength in the survey came from the hardware, china and DIY sector, perhaps signalling continued buoyancy in the housing market.
This was also indicated by wholesalers reporting robust growth and sales volumes because much of their trade became from builders' merchants and electrical installation materials.