Indonesia Retail Sales Decline Set To Slow Further In August

(RTTNews) - The pace of decline in Indonesia's retail sales is set to slow for a third straight month in August, extending the trend that began after the lockdown restrictions that were imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic were relaxed. Retail sales is set to fall 10.1 percent year-on-year in August, results of a survey by the Bank Indonesia showed on Wednesday. Sales decreased 12.3 percent in July and 17.1 percent in June. Retail sales have been decreasing since December and logged the worst contraction of 20.6 percent in May amid the Covid-19 crisis. The survey predicted sales improvement for almost all commodity groups. Sales in the food, beverage and tobacco group logged the smallest contraction of 1.9 percent in July, thanks partly to increase in households' purchasing power. Food, beverage and tobacco sales are forecast to register positive growth in August. Further, the survey showed that inflationary pressure is predicted to increase in the next three and six months horizons owing to disruption in the distribution of goods and services in line with the arrival of the rainy season.