The report released
by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) revealed Friday that
retail sales in Japan rose at a much faster-than-anticipated pace in February.
According to
the report, Japanese retail sales climbed 4.6 per cent y-o-y last month,
following a downwardly 2.1 per cent y-o-y jump (from +2.3 per cent y-oy) in January.
This represented the strongest annual increase in three months and exceeded
economists’ forecast of a 3.0 per cent y-o-y advance. Overall, Japanese retail
sales recorded an annual increase in February for the 24th month in a row.
Last month,
gains occurred in other retail products (+12.3 per cent y-o-y), pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (+8.6 per
cent y-o-y), department stores (+8.4 per cent y-o-y), non-store retailers (+6.1),
food and beverage (+5.7 per cent y-o-y), machinery and equipment (+5.4 per cent
y-o-y), fuel products (+2.3 per cent y-o-y), and per cent y-o-y), textile,
clothing, and household goods (+0.7 per cent y-o-y). At the same time, sales
fell in automobile retailers (-8.6 per cent y-o-y).
On a monthly
basis, retail sales recorded a growth of 1.5 per cent in February, following a downwardly
revised 0.2 per cent rise (from +0.8 per cent) in the previous month.