The ACT has fought its way back from being one of the worst retail performers to record the best Christmas boost to sales in the country, new figures show.
The latest retail trade figures show the capital bucked the national downward trend in December, and saw sales climb by 1.8per cent to be the best performing state or territory in the month.
Turnover fell by 1.4per cent in Queensland, where retail sales were the worst.
Retail sales nationally fell 0.1per cent in December, following a 0.1per cent rise in November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures issued yesterday.
Canberra Business Council chief executive Chris Faulks said while the ACT's December seasonally adjusted turnover was hopeful, the underlying trend remained flat.
''In seasonally adjusted terms, we're basically the only jurisdiction, apart from Victoria, that had a positive result, which is good,'' Ms Faulks said.
''But of more concern is the trend - in trend terms for the last six months there hasn't been any change.
''There are reasons for that. There's been a change in consumer spending - more people are purchasing online, and then you put the uncertainty of Europe on top of that and the federal government's announcement that there will be an increase in the efficiency dividend. All of that affects consumer confidence.''
ACT Chamber of Commerce chief executive Chris Peters said local businesses' decision to bring forward sales in December had paid off.
Mr Peters said the latest figures showed ACT retailers were doing better than expected.
''Whilst retailers are certainly not out of the woods, this is going to buy them some time,'' he said.
''It certainly means that jobs are better protected here than they are anywhere else.''
A retailers group says a significant number of retail jobs could be lost after the new national figures showed spending fell in the sector over Christmas.
Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) chief executive Margy Osmond said, while the decrease was not entirely unexpected, it was well below the 0.5per cent increase the industry had hoped for.
''I think we're now starting to look at some very dangerous territory in terms of retailers having to close their doors and perhaps a significant loss of jobs,'' Ms Osmond said.
''Retail employs over 1.2million people across Australia.
''If we see these same levels of consumer spending coming into this year, it's going to mean jobs in the sector, there's no doubt about it.''
Despite December retail figures showing an increase of 3per cent in 2011 from the same month in 2010, Ms Osmond said most of that can be attributed to food purchases rather than retail spending across the board.
''Unfortunately, when you put this Christmas on last Christmas, while we've seen a bit of an increase between the two of them, it really has to be put down to restaurants and takeaway, as opposed to a reality of deep improvement within the retail sector,'' she said.
With consumer spending down, retailers will be waiting to see if the Reserve Bank of Australia decides to reduce the cash rate today.
ANRA policy director Russell Goss said, ''We'd like to see the RBA take it down a notch and hopefully provide stimulus to the economy outside of the resources sector and we hope that that provides a boost to consumer spending.'' with AAP
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