South Africa’s retail sales growth eased at a slower-than-expected pace in July after accelerating in the previous month, preliminary figures from Statistics South Africa showed Wednesday.
Retail sales rose 3.3 percent year-over-year in July, slower than June’s 3.8 percent climb. Economists had expected a 2.5 percent increase for the month. Sales have been rising since July last year.
Annual sales growth of general dealers slowed to 1.1 percent in July from 1.4 percent in the preceding month. Sales of textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods grew 0.8 percent and those of hardware, paint and glass went up by 0.5 percent.
On a monthly basis, retail sales edged up a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent in July, following a 0.4 percent gain in June. It was the second successive monthly rise.
In the three months ended July, retail sales showed no variations compared with the previous three-month period.
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