"While retail volumes surged in the March quarter, today's data highlights that the sustained high dollar and competitive pressures are weighing on prices across the economy"
- Spokeswoman for Treasurer Wayne Swan
Australian retail sales unexpectedly declined in March. Sales edged down 0.4% to A$21.9 billion ($22.5 billion) from the previous month, when they increased 1.3%, the Bureau of Statistics said. That was the first decline this year and compared to economists' prediction for a 0.1% gain.
"While retail volumes surged in the March quarter, today's data highlights that the sustained high dollar and competitive pressures are weighing on prices across the economy," a spokeswoman for Treasurer Wayne Swan said. "There's no doubt that the persistently high dollar continues to have an acute and widespread impact on prices and profitability across the board, which has been one of the key drivers behind the recent hit to government revenues."
Also the number of job ads published on the internet and in newspapers declined 1.3% in April following a 0.5% drop in March, the latest ANZ Job Ads Survey showed. In 12 months to April, the number of job advertisements fell 18.2%.
"As such, it is too early to conclude that job advertising has begun a renewed decline, though anecdotal reports suggest job advertising in mining and related construction activity continues to ease," Mr Colhoun said.
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