Brazil: Retail sales contract again in August

Retail sales (excluding cars and construction) fell 0.6% in August from the previous month in seasonally-adjusted terms. The result mirrored July’s revised reading (previously reported: -0.3% month-on-month). Broad-based declines were recorded across the index, with six of the eight components recording contractions.

On an annual basis, retail sales fell 5.5% in August, which was a slightly less pronounced decline than July’s revised 5.6% contraction (previously reported: -5.3% year-on-year). The trend turned slightly up after having fallen uninterruptedly since March. Annual average variation in retail sales inched up from minus 6.8% to minus 6.7%.

Panelists participating in this month’s LatinFocus Consensus Forecast expect retail sales to contract 4.8% in 2016, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2017, the panel sees retail sales growing 0.7%.