January worst sales period for retailers

January saw British retailers suffering their worst sales period for over a year. Sales declined 1.3 percent on the month before, according to the Office for National Statistics. The drop in sales is even worse than the City had expected. Sales were up 1.3 percent year-on-year, but fell below forecasts of 2.9 percent and down from the revised rate of 4.3 percent in December of last year. According to Channel 4 news, these figures could cause the Bank of England to slash interest rates from 4.5 percent to stimulate spending.