Rates yet to halt spending

(Fin24) -  Latest retail sales figures show consumers are   struggling to shell out money for big-ticket items as interest  rates begin to bite.

However, economists point out that retail sales growth is calculated off a high base and credit spending remains robust. 

The retail sales figures for October show that there was an 8.1% decline in sales of household furniture, appliances and equipment in  the three months from August to October compared with the same three months last year.

The Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin also says there was a decline year-on-year in real household expenditure on durable goods.  

The bulletin shows overall consumption spending cooled down to a fairly sedate 4.5% in the third quarter of last year from a robust 8.25% for the whole of 2006. 
 

Read more at FIN24

S.Africa Dec new vehicle sales fall 15.1 pct yr/yr

(Reuters) - South African new vehicle sales dropped 15.1 percent year-on-year in December on higher interest rates and tighter credit laws, and should moderate further this year, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Wednesday.

NAAMSA said new vehicle sales fell to 41,813 units in December compared to the same month in 2006.

New sales incorporating Associated Motor Holdings were 44,926 vehicles in December compared to 54,874 over the same period the year before.

AMH is an importing and distributing company whose data is reported separately because it does not provide some of the vehicle sale breakdowns required by NAAMSA.

New vehicle sales during the whole of 2007 fell by 5.2 percent to 612,707 compared to 2006, after registering four successive record years previously, NAAMSA added.

"During 2007, the automotive industry was buffeted by a series of negative events (including) progressive increases in interest rates, the introduction of the National Credit Legislation ... which introduced stricter disciplines governing the granting of credit," it said.

 

Read more at Reuters Africa

King Likely to Win New Term Leading Bank of England

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown was speechless when asked yesterday whether he would reappoint Mervyn King as governor of the Bank of England, silently nodding toward Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling to repeat the promise of a decision in ``the next few weeks.''

When the time does come, Brown will probably say yes.

Brown has little choice but to overlook King's delay in acting on the financial crisis at Northern Rock Plc last year, say former colleagues, economists and lawmakers from the three main parties. They say the political costs of pushing King aside would outweigh any benefit.

 

Read more at Bloomberg