Retail sales in the euro area suffered their biggest monthly fall of the year as high inflation weighed on shoppers’ activity, adding to signs that the bloc entered a recession in the fourth quarter.
The 1.8 per cent fall in eurozone retail turnover in October, published by the EU statistics agency on Monday, was slightly larger than expected by economists polled by Reuters. It was the largest drop since a 2.1 per cent decline in December 2021.
By country, the biggest fall in retail turnover in October was a 4.6 per cent drop in Austria, but there were also significant declines of 2.8 per cent in Germany and 2.7 per cent in France. Spain was one of the few countries where retail sales grew, rising 0.4 per cent.