At first blush, retail sales in Alberta in July look pretty good with unadjusted revenue up by 8.4% compared to 12 months earlier.

However, when inflation is taken into account, sales in July were down by 1.5%.

The same goes for cumulative sales over the first seven months of the year: revenues were 5.6% higher than over the same period in 2021 before adjusting for inflation, but 3.9% lower after doing so.

Although the inflation rate slowed somewhat in August, higher interest rates and rising anxiety about the state of the economy will put downward pressure on retail sales in the coming months.

Answer to the previous trivia question: The Bank of England was founded in 1694 as a private enterprise that would act as a banker to the Government.

Today’s trivia question: How many Walmart stores are there?