April retail sales rise by 1.5%

South African retail sales rose by 1.5% year-on-year in April, beating market expectations, after increasing 0.9% in March, data from the statistics office showed yesterday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.6% year-onyear increase in retail sales in April. On a month-on-month basis, sales inched up by 0.3% and were also up 0.3% in the three months to April compared with the same period last year, Statistics South Africa said. – Reuters