February's extra day lends hand to retail sales

The extra day's contribution was however "difficult to quantify", the Stats SA official said.

John Loos, household and property sector strategist at FNB, also noted that the extra day in February "may have made some difference."

SA's retail trade sales at constant (2008) prices came in better than expected, registering a 7.2% y/y growth, or R42.9 billion, from 4.2% y/y in January.

In terms of the 7.2% y/y growth in February, the highest annual growth rates were recorded for in the following sectors: all other retailers, with 11.4%; general dealers, with 8.7%; and retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment, with 7.9%.

The y/y number "pleasantly surprised", said Loos, as he had expected "significantly lower growth figures".

Loos said that while some would see the figure as a sign of a strong economy, he saw it as "something of a problem" because it reflected "an obsession with consumption".

On a month-on-month (m/m) basis, retail trade sales growth fell 2.2% in February compared with January. This followed m/m changes of -1.0% [-0.6%] in January and 1.1% in December 2011.

The decline in sales during both January and February this year suggested that SA retail activity was likely to face increasing strain in 2012, Kevin Lings, Stanlib economist said.

"We maintain a cautious outlook on the prospects for household spending this year, given the unfavourable backdrop of economic uncertainty and sluggish job creation," Shireen Darmalingam of Standard Bank economics unit said.