Irish consumers spent less on leather goods and footwear in August than they did the year before, though consumer spending and borrowing was up overall.

According to the figures released by the Central Statistics Office last week, spending on leather goods and footwear was down 1.4% year on year. Spending on food, drink and tobacco was also down, by 2.3 per cent, while spending in bars fell by 1.4 per cent.

Despite the global slowdown, the outlook remained positive for the month, with mortgage lending, credit growth and retail spending overall all showing increases compared with August 2000.

Share this story: