South Africa’s retail sales growth moderated at a faster-than-expected pace in April, figures from Statistics South Africa showed Wednesday.
Retail sales rose at a slower pace of 1.5 percent year-over-year in April, following a 2.9 percent gain in the previous month.
Sales have been rising since July 2014 and the latest rate of increase was the weakest in this sequence.
Annual sales growth of textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods eased to 2.4 percent in April from 5.4 percent in March.
Sales of pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries grew 8.0 percent, while sales general dealers registered a decline of 1.3 percent.
On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped 1.7 percent in April, reversing a 0.3 percent rise in the preceding month. It was the first decrease in three months.
In the three months ended April, retail trade contracted 0.5 percent compared with the previous three-month period.
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