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Bloomberg
Australian household spending recovered strongly, defying expectations that a renewed coronavirus outbreak would keep shoppers at home, as a shift to living with Covid prompted consumers to head out to shop.
Retail sales jumped 1.8% in January to A$32.5 billion ($23.3 billion), compared with a forecast gain of just 0.3%, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed. Sales across the states and territories all rose, led by a 4.7% surge in Western Australia.
“The emergence of the omicron variant and rising Covid-19 case numbers, combined with an absence of mandated lockdowns has resulted in a range of different consumer behaviours,†Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Statistics, said.
That “meant that other discretionary industries which would usually see a fall during the pandemic have recorded mixed results,†he said.
The unexpected jump in household spending is positive for the economic outlook given private consumption accounts for roughly 60% of the country’s $1.5 trillion annual economic output.