Scottish retail sales show growth

The first official retail figures for Scotland show that sales increased in the last three months of the year.

The new Retail Sales Index for Scotland, separates out Scottish businesses from UK figures.

It shows that the value of sales grew by 3.6% over 2009 and rose by 0.9% in the last quarter of the year, compared with the previous three months.

The volume of retail sales in Scotland grew by 2.7% over the year and 0.7% from October to December 2009.

Sample size

The Scottish government said it was encouraging to see consumer confidence remaining relatively strong.

The new figures are published by the Office for National Statistics.

It has a sample size of about 700 retail businesses operating in Scotland.

The volume of retail sales for the UK as a whole was up 1.7% over 2009 and 0.7% in the final quarter.

The value of UK sales grew by 1.8% over the year and 0.9% in the last three months.

Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said: "The annual percentage rise in both the volume and value of retail sales has been higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK.

"That provides further evidence that our economy is beginning to recover."