Retail sales rebound in March — but not enough to save quarterly decline
South African retail sales rebounded in March, but not enough to save a quarterly decline that may contribute to the country falling into a technical recession. Stats SA reported on Wednesday that retail sales in March were 0.8% higher than the same month in 2016. However, because the Easter holidays fell in March 2016, but not in March 2017, the seasonally adjusted figure showed more moderate growth of 0.3%. The 0.8% rebound in March followed declines of 1.6% in February and 2.3% in January, taking the decline for the first quarter to 1.1%. Wednesday’s data provides economists with a clue as to whether the first quarter of 2017 will show SA’s gross domestic product (GDP) suffered a second quarter of decline after coming in at negative 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2016. Two consecutive quarters of GDP decline is the generally accepted definition of a recession. Retail is lumped into "trade, catering and accommodation" for calculating GDP. This segment accounted for 14% of the R3-tr...
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