Eurozone retail sales fall flat in August

Eurozone retail sales were unchanged in August, data released on Monday showed.

According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, retail sales in the 19-country bloc were unchanged in August, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 0.1% decline month-on-month, while July’s rate was revised up from 0.4% to 0.6%.

Growth in food sales doubled to 0.8%, while non-food sales reversed the previous month’s 0.5% gain to decline 0.3%.

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales grew 2.3% in August compared with a 3% rate in July, although they fared better than consensus expectations for a 1.7% gain.

Retail sales in Germany, the Eurozone's biggest economy, were down 0.4% month-on-month in August, while they rose 0.3% in France.

Meanwhile, in the 28 countries of the European Union, sales were also flat in August month-on-month and up 2.6% year-on-year.