December was tough - it's official

FOR ALL those business owners and managers wondering whether they were the only ones who found December difficult – the answer is “no”. According to Statistics South Africa, retail sales shrank by 0.5% year-onyear in December, to a six year low. This supports statistics from the Retailers’ Liaison Committee (RLC), which also reported a slowdown in retail sales for December. “Given the fact that interest rates didn’t hike in January despite the high inflation number and the deteriorating outlook, I don’t think we will see another rate hike this year,” says Fanie Joubert, economist at Efficient Group. And that's good news for the retail sector.