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Do you realise there are people out there spending up big time and although I'm not one of them I get stuck with part of the bill ? - this is BS.......
Cash splash lifts sales
Update The Government's cash splash is paying off with consumers driving retail sales higher than expected in March. Department stores were the big winners.
Sales climbed 2.2 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in March as consumers spent $19.3 billion for the month, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show, reversing a 2 per cent slump in February. Economists had expected a 0.5 per cent increase.
''It's a big shock in retail sales,'' said JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans. ''It was a lot stronger than expected.''
''In anticipation of the cash handouts that were to be received in April and May, consumers went out and spent a lot on discretionary items,'' she said.
The Federal Government announced a second fiscal stimulus in February, aimed in part at shoring up consumer demand and averting a deeper recession. Big cuts in interest rates by the Reserve Bank and lower petrol prices have also freed up household budgets.
''The RBA has been stressing that they want to assess the impact of the stimulus on the economy and it looks from these numbers today that (it is) are working,'' she said.
Treasurer Wayne Swan was quick to claim credit for the strong sales figure, telling reporters, ''these numbers demonstrate the government's efforts ... are working,'' Mr Swan said.
He called them "undeniable proof that the government's economic stimulus package has been extremely successful in supporting a retail sector which employs over one million Australians.''