Indonesia Retail Sales Growth Slows In April

(RTTNews) - Indonesia's retail sales continued to expand strongly in April, albeit at a slower pace, and retailers estimated that the robust growth continued in May, results of a survey by Bank Indonesia showed on Friday.

Retail sales climbed 8.5 percent year-on-year in April, following a 9.3 percent rise in March.

The overall growth in April was underpinned by sales of clothing, information and communication equipment, as well as other household equipment.

On a monthly basis, retail sales growth jumped from 2.6 percent in March to 16.5 percent in April, boosted by increasing economic activity during Ramadan and the approach to Eid celebrations.

Retailers predicted positive sales performance in May on the back of solid domestic demand. Survey respondents predicted a monthly increase of 0.2 percent and an annual growth of 5.4 percent for the month of May.