Spain: Retail sales surge on an extremely low base effect in April
Retail sales skyrocketed 38.5% compared to the same month of 2020 in April 2021, after jumping 181% in March, again benefiting from an extremely low base effect.
Looking at the details of the release, April’s faster increase reflected a broad-based acceleration in growth across all types of stores. Sales at single retail, small chain, department stores and large chain stores all expanded at sharper paces in the month.
On a seasonally- and calendar-adjusted monthly basis, retail sales dipped 0.4% in April, contrasting the 2.7% rise logged in March. Lastly, the trend pointed up, with the annual average variation of retail sales coming in at minus 2.0% in April, from March’s minus 6.5% reading.
Commenting on the near-term outlook for consumer spending, Angel Talavera, head of Europe Economics at Oxford economics, stated:
“We still expect a strong pickup later this year and next as normal activities resume, especially given the large amount of excess savings that households have accumulated.”