Queen’s death led to Australian alcohol binge on national mourning day

The Queen’s death led to a rise in the amount of alcohol being consumed in Australia, according to new data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ head of retail statistics Ben Dorber said that the national day of mourning led to an increase in people going out.He said: “Many retailers remained open for the National Day of Mourning, an additional one-off public holiday in September, and this boosted spending on food, alcohol and dining out.”During September the month that the monarch passed away Australian cafe, restaurant and takeaway food trade rose by 1.3 percent.There was also a 1 percent rose in food retailing as well as an overall rise of 0.6 percent in retail trade.In September, retail turnover increased for a ninth straight month despite the fact that the reserve Bank of Australia has been increasing interest rates every month since May. The Queen watching the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May (Image: Getty Images )AU DATA RELEASE ������Confidence DROPS – A leading indicator of consumer spending, which accounts for a majority of overall economic activity;Australia Westpac Consumer Conf M/M Oct:Act -0.9%Prev 3.9% Australia Westpac Consumer Conf Index Oct: Act: 83.7Prev 84.4$A 0.6297 pic.twitter.com/uWy5fWKgNJ- Azeem Sheriff (@Azeem__Sheriff) October 10, 2022 Consumer spending reached a record high of $35.1billion, and was 17.9 percent higher compared to the same time last year, according to figures.The latest industry figures also show strong spending on clothing and footwear.AMP senior economist Diana Mousina said that the increase was not linked with the death of the Queen.Instead, she argued that Australians were going out again after being denied such simply pleasures during the Covid lockdowns.READ MORE: Dramatic moment Russian helicopter explodes into fireball mid-flightSpending levels as tracked by CBA’s (Australia) tracker set off for new highs based on credit and debit spending.Amidst all the claims that rising rates would swiftly kill spending and be the end of the world, they havent been. pic.twitter.com/xUgEPKVSrB- Tarric Brooker aka Avid Commentator ������������ (@AvidCommentator) October 31, 2022 She said: “The continuing strength in retail sales so far likely reflects a combination of accumulated savings built up through the pandemic which has provided a buffer for household.”Consumer spending is also likely to continue shifting from goods towards services in the post-Covid world.”Sean Langcake from BIS Oxford Economics argued price inflation was feeding into higher sales, suggesting consumers actually were reducing spending.He said: “This is especially true of food and hospitality sales, where costs have increased due to the impact of floods on fresh produce prices, and rising labour costs.”DON’T MISS: Watch Ukraine’s army rapidly destroy four Russian BMP infantry…….. [REVEAL] Putin ‘under threat’ as rising Kremlin star confronts him [INSIGHT] Putin’s wrath turning on UK amid Royal Navy swipe [SPOTLIGHT] Mr Langcake went on to argue that the slowdown of retail sales growth in discretionary items suggested households were starting to feel the effects of higher interest rates and soaring inflation.He said: “With more interest rate increases to come, we expect momentum in consumer spending will slow further.”Despite the mostly positive news the figures did show a slight drop-off in household goods retail sales, which has been flatlining in recent months, and department stores fell by 0.4 percent.