Retail sales have recorded a slight jump of 0.2% for the month of April.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that while month on month there has been a rise overall numbers show a fall of 0.5% in comparison to last year.

Sales of books and newspapers saw the biggest jump of 8.7%. While the largest monthly decreases in sales were in specialist grocery stores as their figures fell by 4.5%.

The sectors with the largest month-on-month volume increases are:

• Books, Newspapers & Stationery (+8.7%)
• Electrical Goods (+2.6%) 
• Motor Trade (+1.7%)

However if the motor industry is excluded, the volume of retail sales actually decreased by 0.3% in April 2013 when compared with March 2013 and there was an annual decrease of 0.3%.