Eurozone retail sales experienced a dip in December, attributed to a decrease in the turnover of food stores, as per official figures released on Thursday.
According to Eurostat, retail sales saw a 0.2% decline on a monthly basis in December, following a stagnant performance in November. This decline was slightly sharper than the anticipated 0.1% drop.
Sales of food, drinks, and tobacco registered a sharper decline of 0.7%, following a marginal 0.1% dip the previous month. Conversely, sales of non-food products witnessed a modest increase of 0.3%, rebounding from November's 0.4% drop. The growth of automotive fuel sales in specialized stores slowed to 0.2%, down from 0.7%.
On an annual scale, retail sales rose by 1.9%, accelerating from a 1.6% increase recorded in the preceding month.
The December downturn in retail sales suggests a notable slowdown in growth for the fourth quarter overall, according to Elias Hilmer, an economist at Capital Economics. Hilmer also noted, "We anticipate that spending growth will likely remain restrained in the forthcoming quarters."
