MADRID, 27 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Retail trade registered an advance in its sales of 9.7% in March in relation to the same month of 2022, a rate 6.1 points higher than that of the previous month, as reported this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With the data for March, retail trade sales have a chain of four consecutive months of positive interannual rates.

However, within the sector, sales of food products fell by 2.9% year-on-year and have already accumulated seven consecutive months of negative rates, coinciding with the strong increase in their prices.

Stripping out seasonal and calendar effects, retail trade billing increased by 9.5% in the third month of the year, a rate 5.4 points higher than that of February.

As regards employment, the sector registered an interannual increase in employment of 1.5% in March, a rate three tenths higher than that of February. With this rebound, employment in retail trade has now accumulated 23 consecutive months of year-on-year increases.