South Africa Retail Sales Fall 0.8%, Less Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - South Africa's retail sales declined for the second straight month in January, though at a slower-than-expected pace, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Wednesday.

Retail sales fell an unadjusted 0.8 percent year-on-year in January, which was worse than the 0.5 percent decrease in December. That was well below the 2.0 percent fall expected by economists.

Sales of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores contracted 7.3 percent annually in February, and those of hardware, paint, and glass slid 4.8 percent.

On the other hand, sales of textiles, clothing and footwear, and leather goods showed a positive growth of 2.3 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales rebounded a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent in February after a 0.5 percent drop in the prior month.

In the three months to January, retail sales advanced 1.3 percent from the preceding three months.