Australia’s retail sales volumes fell 0.5 percent in the second quarter of 2023, marking the third decline in three straight quarters, according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday.
The sales volumes dropped 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2023 and 0.4 percent in the last quarter of 2022.
This is the first time since 2008 for the retail sales volumes to have recorded declines for three consecutive quarters, which shows that consumers have pulled back on spending in response to cost-of-living pressures, said Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics.
On an annual basis, the retail sales volumes went down 1.4 percent in the second quarter.—Xinhua
