The British Retail Consortium, the BRC, has issued its report for the crucial Christmas shopping period.

The report is regarded as the best overview of the retail sector.

It shows that, as suspected, many people left their Christmas shopping to the very last minute.

The figures suggest that people are still being careful with their money and the BRC advises that there is no need for another rise in interest rates.

Describing December as 'a month of two halves', the report states that for the first three weeks spending in the shops was very slow. In the last few days before Christmas, however, the report show that business picked up strongly, a trend that continued into the first few days of the January sales.

But over the month as a whole, growth was still slower than during the summer, when building society windfalls helped launch a brief mini-boom.

According to the report, shoppers are being careful with their money, looking for bargains in the sales and only spending at the last minute.

A real inflationary boom looks as remote a prospect as ever, and the retailers warn that if the Bank of England puts interest rates up again, then the economy could go into a sharp downturn.

But much depends on a number of economic indicators being released over the next couple of weeks.

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©