+The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has outlined that retailers suffered their worst annual sales performance on record in 2020,  the worst for High Street job losses in more than 25 years,

Figures on the report show that food sales growth rose 5.4% in 2019, non-food fell about 5%, as the coronavirus accelerated the move towards online shopping. It meant an overall fall of 0.3% in a year dominated by the Covid-19 impact, the worst annual change since the BRC began collating the figures in 1995.

On the other hand, Online non-food sales jumped by 44.8% in December, according to the new figures, as a higher proportion of shopping took place online. Here in Malawi, the cost of living has been constantly rising due to border restrictions that make importation of foodstuffs expensive, while maize prices are also rising.