Brazil Retail Sales Unexpectedly Rise 1.0%

(RTTNews) - Brazil's retail sales expanded for the second straight month in February, figures from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, showed on Thursday.

Retail sales rose 1.0 percent month-on-month in February, though slower than the 2.8 percent rebound in January, which was the fastest growth since May 2022. Meanwhile, economists had expected a 1.0 percent decline in sales.

The volume of sales of pharmaceutical articles, medicine, and perfumery surged 9.9 percent monthly in February, while those of fuels and lubricants dropped by 2.7 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth accelerated to a 33-month high of 8.2 percent in February, up from 4.0 percent a month ago. The expected increase was 3.3 percent.