Retail sales fall in November

2010/01/20

Retail sales fell for a tenth month in November, according to data released by Statistics SA on Wednesday.

Retail sales for November declined by 6.6 percent year-on-year. In October, sales fell by a revised 6.1 percent year-on-year. Nedbank economist Carmen Altenkirch described the data as "absolutely terrible. What we usually see in November unadjusted month-on-month figures is a relatively big bounce pre-Christmas discounts, but this isn't the case here," she said in a statement.

The data showed that although South Africa had exited the recession, consumer confidence remained severely depressed on the back of high debt levels and job losses.

"We saw job losses in the third quarter of the 2009 and we'll probably see them in the fourth quarter."

She expected a recovery in retail sales only in the middle of 2010. "As the year progresses the economic recovery should gain momentum and there should be more jobs created. There's also the World Cup which should boost retail sales and it'll also positively impact on people's sentiments." (Source : Sapa)