German Retail Sales Fall More Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - Germany's retail sales declined more than expected in March, driven by declines in both food and non-food categories, Destatis reported Thursday.

Real retail sales fell 2.0 percent year-on-year in March, sharper than the 0.3 percent fall in February. Sales were forecast to drop moderately by 0.3 percent.

Retail sales of food were down 2.7 percent from February and non-food retail trade dropped 1.0 percent. Destatis said the decline in petrol station sales was particularly noticeable as a result of the war in the Middle East.

On a yearly basis, retail sales decreased unexpectedly by 2.0 percent in March, in contrast to the 0.9 percent rise in the prior month. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 0.5 percent.

In nominal terms, retail sales dropped 1.5 percent from February and fell 0.5 percent from the last year.