"It is encouraging that sales on our high streets are stabilizing"
- Judith McKenna, the chief operating officer of supermarket chain Asda
Retail sales in the U.K. stagnated in March, said the Confederation of British Industry on Tuesday. The index measuring sales rose to 0 from -2 in February. Above 0 indicates higher sales volume, below indicates lower.
"It is encouraging that sales on our high streets are stabilizing, and -while we are still not seeing growth - conditions have improved since the end of last year," said Judith McKenna, the chief operating officer of supermarket chain Asda, which is owned by Walmart.
"However, the general retail outlook remains tough and firms expect volumes of sales and orders to fall next month," added McKenna, who chairs the CBI survey panel.
"The CBI survey suggests that consumers have not gone completely back into their shells and that February's marked fall in retail sales volumes was partly due to a number of people taking a breather after decent discount-fuelled spending over December and early January," said Howard Archer, UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
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