MADRID, 30 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Retail trade registered a 3.5% advance in sales in February in relation to the same month of 2022, a rate 3.8 points lower than that of the previous month, as reported this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With the data for February, retail trade sales have a chain of three consecutive months of positive interannual rates. However, within the sector, sales of food products fell by 2.2% year-on-year and have already accumulated six consecutive months of negative rates.

Stripping out seasonal and calendar effects, retail trade invoicing increased by 4% in the second month of the year, a rate 1.5 points lower than that of January.

As regards employment, the sector registered an interannual increase in employment of 1.1% in February, a rate two tenths higher than that of January. With this rebound, employment in retail trade has now accumulated 22 consecutive months of year-on-year increases.