RETAILERS counted the cost of the confidence-sapping Iraq conflict and a later Easter holiday after figures showed a slide in sales last month.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG survey showing a like-for-like sales drop of 0.6 per cent was the sector's poorest performance since April 1999.

The figure is an early blow to Chancellor Gordon Brown's hopes of making his revised GDP growth forecasts of between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent this year.

BRC director general Bill Moyes said he believed the later timing of Easter may have distorted the figures but still described the trend as worrying.

"Retail is vital to the economy and if the trend in high street sales is not reversed, the Chancellor has no hope of achieving his optimistic growth forecasts," he said.

The figure for March adds to the gloom seen in February when like-for-like sales growth eased to 1.3 per cent from the 4.1 per cent recorded a month earlier.

Today's total sales figure of 2.1 per cent compares with 6.8 per cent in January.

Amanda Aldridge, head of retail at KPMG, said expensive items for the home were among the poorest performing sectors during the month.