Sweden Retail Sales Fall 5.4%

(RTTNews) - Sweden's retail sales continued to decline in May as sales of both durable and consumer goods contracted, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Thursday.

Retail sales fell a working-day adjusted 5.4 percent year-on-year in May, though slower than the 7.1 percent decrease in April. Sales have been falling since May last year.

Sales of durable goods dropped 7.7 percent annually in May, and those of consumables, excluding sales at the state-owned chain of liquor stores, slid 2.3 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales rose 0.3 percent in May versus a 1.1 percent rebound in April.