Brazil: Retail sales growth increased from previous month in July
Retail sales increased 1.2% in month-on-month seasonally-adjusted terms in July, which was a mild improvement on June’s 0.9% increase. The higher reading reflected a broad-based upturn across the major sectors, with supermarkets, food, drinks and tobacco, other articles for household and personal use, and clothing and footwear all rebounding to growth in July.
On an annual basis, retail sales growth slowed to 5.7% in July, which was well slightly lower than June’s 6.3% expansion and marked a four-month low. As such, annual average retail sales growth matched June’s reading of 5.9% in July, signaling a pause in the uptrend in the retail trade sector that had been observed over the past five months.