The y/y increase is above the average expectation of 6.7% as forecast by eight economists in the I-Net Bridge survey.
The highest annual growth rate y/y in December 2011 was recorded for 'retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods' (11.3%), followed by 'all other retailers' (10.9%) and 'retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment' (9.7%).
The largest contributors to the 7.9% Q4 2011 increase were 'retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods' (10.5% and contributing 2.4 percentage points), 'general dealers' (6.6% and contributing 2.4 percentage points) and 'all other retailers' (8.5% and contributing 1.0 percentage point).
In real terms, the seasonally adjusted retail trade sales m/m increase of 1.3% when compared with November 2011 follows m/m changes of -0.1% in November 2011 and 0.8% in October 2011.
Retail trade sales in real terms increased by 6.1% y/y in 2011. The highest annual growth rate for 2011 was recorded for 'retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment' (10.4%), followed by 'retailers in hardware, paint and glass' (9.9%) and 'all other retailers' (8.1%).
