(RTTNews) - Eurozone retail sales increased for the fourth consecutive month in August, but the pace of growth remained weak.
Retail sales grew unexpectedly by 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, the same rate of growth as seen in June and July, data from Eurostat showed Wednesday.
Economists had forecast a 0.1 percent drop for August after seeing an originally estimated 0.2 percent decline in July. Food, drinks and tobacco sales increased 0.1 percent, while the non-food sector sales fell 0.7 percent in August.
On a yearly comparison, the volume of retail sales dropped by a less than expected 1.3 percent, following July's 1.4 percent fall. Sales were forecast to decrease 1.9 percent in August.
In the EU27, retail sales dipped 0.1 percent from a month ago, and remained flat on a yearly basis.
Among member states, total retail trade fell in nine and climbed in twelve. The largest annual declines were seen in Portugal, Malta and Denmark, while Latvia marked the biggest growth of 10 percent. Sales in Germany gained 0.3 percent.
IHS Global Insight's Chief U.K. economist Howard Archer said flat retail sales add to the Eurozone's economic woes and indicates that consumer spending was likely poor again in the third quarter.
Consumer spending is likely to remain muted given high unemployment and muted wage growth amid many economies implementing austerity measures. Moreover, moving away from the central bank's target, inflation rose to 2.7 percent in September.
The European Central Bank has kept the refi rate at 0.75 percent since July when it took the rate below 1 percent for the first time in its history.
Archer said today's data keep pressure on the ECB to cut rates tomorrow, but it currently looks likely that the bank will hold fire particularly given some recent disappointing inflation developments.
Yesterday, Eurostat reported a sharp increase in producer prices for the month of August. Prices were driven higher by rising energy prices.
