Car sales crunched too
The FCAI released its new motor vehicle sales figures for October 2019.
And, to be frank, they were fairly awful.
And, to be frank, they were fairly awful.
Sales were down by -9.1 per cent from a year earlier at 82,456.
For the year to date, cumulative sales are down again by -78,000, or -8 per cent.
There were no bright spots, with sales down for business (-8.2 per cent), government (-7.3 per cent), and private use (-5.2 per cent).
Sales to the heavy commercial sector were down by a despondent -18.2 per cent.
The year-to-date histogram for 2017, 2018, and 2019 tells its own story:
The FCAI fingered over-regulation of the finance industry and a lending environment that has become far too risk-averse.
More broadly the SME lending environment has certainly dried up.
It will be interesting too see how the latest growth and inflation figures are crafted, because alongside the negative result for retail trade these numbers are quite terrible.
