UK retailers have experienced the sharpest year-on-year decline in sales in over four decades, driven by the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conducted a survey based on responses from 61 retail chains, collected between March 26 and April 14 and found that the monthly retail sales volume balance plunged to -68 in April, down from -52 in March — its lowest reading since the series began in 1983.
Expectations for May have also worsened, falling to -60 from -49, marking the gloomiest outlook since the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2021.
‘Some retailers reported that weak consumer confidence was weighing on spending in April,’ the CBI stated.
Martin Sartorius, a CBI economist, said firms are looking to the government to address the ongoing financial pressures.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that US-Israeli aggression against Iran has caused the most severe energy crisis in history.
‘With the economic impact of the Iran conflict becoming clearer, firms will be looking to government to recognise that easing cost-of-living pressures depends on tackling the cost of doing business,’ Sartorius said.
It was announced yesterday that BP’s profits for the first three months of the year more than doubled following the surge in oil prices since the beginning of the Iran war.
In its first results since the conflict broke out, the energy giant reported profits of $3.2bn (£2.4bn) between January and March after an ‘exceptional’ performance in its oil trading business.
Profits in BP’s customers and products division, which includes its oil trading unit, surged to $2.5bn compared with just $103m a year ago.
However, while BP’s trading business did well, its upstream production – which includes the search for and extraction of oil and gas – has been flat.
It also expects production between April and June to be lower, partly due to the ‘effects of disruption in the Middle East’.
BP’s share price rose 3% yesterday, and is up by about 20% since the US-Israel war on Iran began.
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