The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said retail sales in the 20 countries sharing the euro fell 1.2% month-on-month for a 2.1% year-on-year decline in August.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.3% month fall and a 1.2% year-on-year decline.
The monthly fall was caused mainly by a sharp drop in mail orders and shopping on the internet which fell 4.5% and a drop in the sale of petrol, down 3.0%.
Year-on-year, the sales of fuel was even more pronounced at 7.7% and there was a 3.2% fall in the sales of food drinks and tobacco.
Euro zone inflation was 5.3% in August, well above the European Central Bank’s target of 2.0%.
(This story has been corrected to say 2.1%, not 21%, in paragraph 2)
Source: Economy - investing.com
