Retail Sales Decreased 0.2% In January 2023
After adjusting for the retail sales rate of inflation – measured at 6.0% in January – the overall volume of retail sales decreased 0.2% when compared to January 2022, according to the recently released Retail Sales Index.
A Government spokesperson said, “Today, the Ministry of Economy and Labour released the January 2023 Retail Sales Index.
“January’s retail sales volume decreased 0.2 per cent compared to last year. In value terms, retail sales increased to an estimated $93.8 million.
“Two of the seven sectors recorded volume decreases in January 2023.
Chart extracted from the report:
“The sales volume for Building Material Stores decreased 7.9 per cent. The sales volume for this sector was 22.2 per cent below the 2019 sales level.
“The following sectors experienced increases in sales volume compared to the previous year.
“The sales volume at Apparel Stores rose 13.6 per cent and was 15.7 per cent below the pre-pandemic sales of 2019.
“The sales volume for Food Stores fell 10.8 per cent, while Liquor Stores’ sales volume rose 8.6 per cent. Compared to the pre-pandemic sales volume of 2019, Food Stores sales decreased 16.3 per cent, while sales at Liquor Stores were 6.7 per cent higher.
“In the All Other Store Types sector [comprising stores selling household items, furniture, appliances, electronics, pharmaceuticals and tourist-related goods], sales volume increased 1.7 per cent. Sales for this sector registered 3.9 per cent above the pre-pandemic sales volume over the same period in 2019.
“Service Stations’ sales volume increased 6.0 per cent from last year and was 6.3 per cent below the pre-pandemic sales in January 2019.
“Compared to the previous year, Motor Vehicle Stores’ sales volume rose 5.1 per cent due to a higher inventory of vehicles available along with sales incentives. The sales level was 17.0 per cent below the sales volume in January 2019 before the pandemic.
“Overseas declarations decreased 7.7 per cent compared to January 2022 and were 45.5 per cent higher than in the pre-pandemic period.”
The full January 2023 Retail Sales Index publication follows below [PDF here]:
“the overall volume of retail sales decreased 0.2% when compared to January 2022″
And PHC has failed to field a cricket team this season, citing a lack of sufficient players to fill their squad.
Could the two things be related?
Quite possibly, nothing is out of the question. The Dept of Statistics should be shut down as their numbers clearly have no bearing on realty. Closing them, the BTA and BGC would save at least $40 million a year, and no one would notice. The problem with closing the BGC is that our debt would increase by around $10 -15 million due to the guarantees being called in, so it’s better in Government’s eyes to continue paying $2 million a year to keep the debt off the books. Bermuda is so screwed.
I think the Department of Statistics does the best it can within the constraints imposed upon it. The 2022 Digest does not actually identify the rate of price inflation for the standard basket of goods, presumably so as not to contradict the Premier’s estimate of 4.1%, but it does provide several pages or raw statistics that allows people to do their own analysis.