JOHANNESBURG – South African retail sales fell by 2.3% year-on-year in January, lagging market expectations, pursuing the revised rise of 1% in December, data from the statistics office showed on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 1.2% year-on-year development of January.
On a month-on-month basis, sales fell by 1.2% and edged up 0.7% in the 3 months to January balanced with a similar period recently, Statistics South Africa said.