South Africa’s retail sales growth eased unexpectedly in March, preliminary figures from Statistics South Africa showed Wednesday.

Retails sales rose 2.0 percent year-over-year in March, slower than previous month’s 3.7 percent climb. Economists had expected the growth to accelerate to 4.1 percent. Sales have been rising since July last year.

Sales of hardware, paint and glass surged 9.9 percent annually in March and that for pharmaceuticals ans medical gods, cosmetics and toiletries grew by 6.8 percent. At the same time, sales of household furniture, appliances and equipment declined 1.6 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in March, in contrast to a 1.6 percent increase in February. It was the first decrease in three months.

In the first quarter, total retail sales advanced 2.5 percent compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.

The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com