SA August retail trade sales up 3.0% y/y
Retail trade sales were expected to have increased by 1.3% y/y‚ according to a survey of leading economists by I-Net Bridge.
Forecasts among the 10 economists polled ranged from -0.3% to 2.0%.
Measured in real terms‚ seasonally adjusted retail trade sales rose 1.1% between August and July following month-on-month changes of -0.4% in July and 0.9% in June.
The highest annual growth rates were recorded for retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ with 7.9%; retailers in hardware‚ paint and glass‚ with 5.0%; and general dealers‚ with 2.9%.
The main contributors to the 3.0% increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ contributing 1.6 percentage points and general dealers‚ contributing 1.1 percentage points.
Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales rose by 0.8% in the three months ended August 2013 compared with the previous three months.
Retail trade sales rose by 2.4% in the three months ended August 2013 compared with the three months ended August 2012.
The main contributors to this increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ with 6.9% and contributing 1.4 percentage points; retailers in hardware‚ paint and glass‚ with 7.3% and contributing 0.6 of a percentage point; and general dealers‚ with 0.9% and contributing 0.4 of a percentage point.