INTEREST rate rises to help curb consumer debt have done little to affect high street sales, figures showed last night.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that retail sales volumes continued to increase last month.

Official retail sales figures for April rose by 0.3 per cent on the previous month - in line with analysts' forecasts.

Soaring levels of consumer debt have resulted in three interest rate rises during the past six months as the Bank of England attempted to rein in spending.

Yesterday's figures showed this has done little to affect behaviour on the high street and will increase the chances of further rate rises.

Clothing and footwear stores, as well as other non-food stores, were among those seeing the strongest increases in sales.

Growth in sales volumes for non-food stores continued to be significantly greater than for food stores. On a three-monthly basis, sales at non-food stores grew by two per cent, compared with 0.9 per cent for food stores.