RETAIL SPENDING
Sales volumes biggest in six years
The discretionary spending power of consumers is slowly returning as inflation slows and the rand strengthens. This was evident among Mastercard users in the country whose spending habits resulted in greater sales volumes than each of the five previous January periods. According to the Mastercard SpendingPulse January 2018 report, which provides a macroeconomic analysis of retail spending trends in SA, not only was it a record period, but consumer spending for January climbed 3.8%. This spending was the same pace of growth the retail industry had witnessed during the December peak season. Senior vice-president and group head of market insights for Mastercard Sarah Quinlan attributed the January sales growth to a moderation in inflation, a stronger rand and some recovery in industries such as agriculture as production recovers from the severe drought. The SpendingPulse report said that including the effects of inflation, retail sales for January 2018 grew 7.3% year on year. Inflation...
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