Spain Retail Sales Growth At 8-Month High

(RTTNews) - Spain retail sales grew at the fastest pace in eight months in August, data from the statistical office INE showed Thursday.

Retail sales climbed 2.3 percent on a yearly basis, following a 1.1 percent rise in July. This was the fastest growth since December, when sales were up 2.8 percent.

On an unadjusted basis, annual growth in retail sales improved to 3.2 percent from 2.9 percent a month ago.

Month-on-month, retail sales gained 0.4 percent after a 0.5 percent rise in the previous month. This was the third consecutive increase.

Food sales decreased 0.2 percent on month, while non-food sales grew 0.5 percent.

Further, data showed that employment in the retail sector posted an annual increase of 2.0 percent. However, employment was down 0.5 percent on month.