Italy's retail sales rebounded strongly at the start of the year, driven by more sales of food and non-food items, data from the statistical office ISTAT showed on Wednesday.
The value of retail sales climbed 1.7 percent month-on-month in January, reversing a slight 0.2 percent fall in December. Meanwhile, economists had forecast a repeat drop of 0.2 percent.
Further, sales have expanded most since May 2022, when they had grown 5.0 percent.
Sales of food products rose 2.2 percent monthly in January, and sales of non-food goods recovered by 1.4 percent versus a 0.5 percent decrease in the prior month.
On a yearly basis, retail sales growth accelerated to an 8-month high of 6.2 percent in January from 3.6 percent in December. Sales of food and non-food items climbed by 7.5 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.
Online sales were 3.0 percent higher in January compared to last year, well above the 0.2 percent rise in the preceding month.
Data also showed that the volume of retail sales expanded 1.2 percent monthly, while they fell 2.4 percent from a year ago.
