Sweden Retail Sales Plunge 9.4%, Logs Biggest Fall On Record

(RTTNews) - Sweden's retail sales showed their worst performance in history, as sales of durable and consumer goods contracted sharply in February amid rising inflationary pressures, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Wednesday.

Retail sales fell a working-day adjusted 9.4 percent year-on-year in February, faster than the 7.7 percent decrease in January. Sales have been falling since May 2022.

Further, this was the most pronounced decline since the series began in 1992.

Sales of durable goods slumped 10.9 percent annually in February, and those of consumables, excluding sales at the state-owned chain of liquor stores, slid 8.3 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped 1.2 percent in February versus a 0.2 percent fall in January. Sales decreased for the third straight month.