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German retail sales revised up
GERMANS spent more in the first half of the year than had previously been estimated, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
The official figures now show that retail sales rose by a real 0.9 per cent during the first six months of the year on the same period of 2009 compared to the previous estimate of a 0.4 per cent fall.
Sales of food, drink and tobacco fell 0.1 per cent in real terms while non-food sales rose 1.9 per cent, boosted by strong growth in sales of furniture and household appliances.
The strong retail sales figures help to explain Germany’s exceptionally strong 2.2 per cent GDP growth in the second quarter, which has been helped by private consumption.