Eurozone Dec Retail Sales Growth Eases In December

(RTTNews) - Eurozone retail sales grew at a slower pace in December, Eurostat showed Wednesday.

Retail sales grew 0.3 percent month-on-month in December, slower than November's 0.7 percent increase.

Nonetheless, this was the third consecutive rise in sales and better than economists' forecast for a flat growth. Sales of food products and non-food products gained 0.3 percent each.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth accelerated to 2.8 percent from 1.6 percent in November. The growth rate exceeded a 2 percent rise forecast by economists.

In the EU28, retail sales were up 0.3 percent from November and 3.2 percent from December 2013.

The average retail sales for the year 2014, sales were up 1.3 percent in the euro area and by 1.9 percent in the EUR28.