Euro zone retail sales fall as expected in Dec

BRUSSELS – Euro zone retail sales fell roughly in line with expectations in December, underlining the weakness in consumer demand at the end of the year amid high inflation, data from the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed.

Eurostat said retail sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro in December fell 2.7% month-on-month for a 2.8% year-on-year decline. Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to fall 2.5% on the month and 2.7% year-on-year.