Germany’s retail sales decreased unexpectedly at the end of the year, preliminary figures from Destatis showed Friday.
Retail sales edged down a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent month-over-month in December, reversing a 0.4 percent rise in the previous month. Economists had also expected a 0.4 percent climb for the month.
On an annual basis, retail sales growth slowed to 1.5 percent in December from 2.4 percent in November. The expected rate of increase was 1.9 percent.
Sales of food, beverages and tobacco grew 2.0 percent in December from a year ago and that for non-food products rose by 1.0 percent.
In nominal terms, retail sales fell 0.5 percent over the month and increased 1.7 percent from December 2014.
In the whole year 2015, total retail sales in real terms advanced 2.7 percent compared with the preceding year.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com