Bermuda residents spent 54 percent more on overseas purchases in March than they did in the same month a year earlier, according to figures released by Government yesterday.

Purchases declared by returning residents totalled $5.1 million, a year-on-year increase of $1.8 million. The huge rise means that overseas spending accounted for 5.3 percent of total retail sales during March, almost two percent higher than its share in March 2007.

The Retail Sales Index, released by the Department of Statistics, showed a downturn in consumer spending overall, driven primarily by lower sales of building materials and motor vehicles. Around $90.3 million was paid into Bermuda retailers' tills, $1.3 million, or 1.4 percent, lower than the March 2007 total.

Part of the revenue reduction can be explained by there having been two less shopping days in March 2008, as a result of the Good Friday holiday falling in March this year.

Clothes retailers saw their first decline in gross revenue since July 2006, a 4.6 percent fall. In contrast, overseas purchases of clothing and footwear by residents rose 49 percent.

Consumers spent 19 percent less on construction materials than they did a year earlier, a sector which had seen an 11-percent rise in February. Motor vehicles sales also fell almost seven percent.

Service stations reported an 11-percent rise is sales revenue on the back of a 13.5-percent increase in the cost of premium and mixed fuel. Food stores' gross receipts rose 4.3 percent, with most of the increase explained by the 3.1-percent increase in the price of food.