South Africa's retail sales increased significantly faster than economists expected in June, data released by Statistics South Africa showed Wednesday.
Retail sales, in real terms, climbed 8.3 percent on an annual basis in June, significantly faster than the 4.7 percent growth economists had forecast.
With a 16.4 percent increase, traders in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods posted the biggest year-on-year growth during the month, followed by sales of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries, which rose 8.7 percent.
On a monthly basis, retail sales advanced a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent in June, recovering from the previous month's 0.6 percent decrease, which followed a 1.2 percent gain in April.
In the second quarter, retail sales increase of 5.4 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year, data showed.
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