02.03.202107:35:00UTC+00German Retail Sales Fall More Than Expected

Germany's retail sales decreased for a second straight month and at a faster than expected pace in January, preliminary figures from Destatis showed Tuesday.

Retail sales fell 4.5 percent month-on-month, which was worse than the 0.3 percent decline economists had expected. In December, sales decreased 9.1 percent.

Sales dropped 8.7 percent year-on-year, while economists had forecast a 1.3 percent gain. In December, sales grew 2.8 percent.

The latest annual decline was the first since April last year, when sales fell 5.6 percent.

These results can be explained by the second COVID-19 lockdown, which led to a partial retail closure starting on December 16, 2020, Destatis said.