Germany's retail sales grew unexpectedly in February from the prior month, official data showed Monday.
Retail sales advanced by real 1.3 percent from January, Destatis said. This was the second consecutive rise in retail turnover. Sales were forecast to fall 0.5 percent in February after rising 1.7 percent in January.
Year-on-year, retail sales grew 2 percent, much faster than the 0.9 percent rise posted in January. The rate also exceeded the 0.8 percent increase forecast by economists.
Compared with the previous year, turnover in retail trade was in the first two months of 2014 in real terms 1.5 percent larger than that in the corresponding period of the previous year, Destatis reported.
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