Yesterday’s tepid retail sales, which disappointed analyst’s expectations, are likely to make a negative contribution to Australia’s March quarter GDP when the national accounts are released early next month.
As reported yesterday, monthly sales values registered 0.3% growth in March on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which was below analyst’s expectations of 0.4% growth. However, in quarterly real chain volume terms, retail sales rose by 0.7%, which was below the December quarter’s 1.2% growth (see next chart).
