Retail trade sales rose 0.7% y/y in September 2018
Stats SA also announced that retail trade sales increased by 1.5% in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the third quarter of 2017.
PRETORIA - Stats SA has revealed that retail trade sales increased by 0.7% year-on-year in September 2018, measured in real terms.
This compares with increases of 2.5% in August and 1.4% in July.
It also stated that positive annual growth rates were recorded for:
retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment (10.9%);
all other retailers (4.4%);
retailers in pharmaceuticals and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries (2.3%); and
general dealers (0.2%).
The main contributor to the 0.7% increase was all other retailers (contributing 0.6 of a percentage point).
Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales decreased by 0.6% in September 2018 compared with August 2018. This followed month-on-month changes of 0.7% in August 2018 and 1.5% in July 2018.
In the third quarter of 2018, seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 1.5% compared with the previous quarter.
Retail trade sales increased by 1.5% in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the third quarter of 2017. The main contributors to this increase were:
all other retailers (4.3% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point); and
retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (2.8% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point).
Consumers have had to cut back on buying big-ticket items like cars and houses due to the general increase in the cost of living, and job losses.
The economy shrank by 0.7% in the second quarter, following a 2.6% contraction in the first quarter.
This pushed the country into a recession for the first time in almost a decade.
