British retail sales volumes surged by 2.9% in May, rebounding sharply from a revised 1.8% decline in April when heavy rain deterred shoppers, the

Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday.

Economists polled by Reuters had, on average, predicted a 1.5% increase in sales volumes for the month.

Compared to the previous year, sales volumes in May were up by 1.3%, following a revised 2.3% drop in April.

British consumers have been facing high inflation, which only fell back to the Bank of England's 2% target last month after nearly three years of exceeding it.

However, average wages are now rising faster than inflation, and consumer sentiment in June reached its highest level since November 2021, according to data from Britain's longest-running consumer confidence survey released earlier on Friday. Photo by David Wright, Wikimedia commons.