FX.co ★ Indonesia Retailers Expect Sales To Rise At Faster Rate

Indonesia's retail sales continued to expand in December, led by better demand for information and communication equipment as well as cultural and recreational goods, and retailers expected sales to maintain a positive and faster growth momentum at the start of the year, the results of a survey by Bank Indonesia showed on Thursday.

Retail sales rose 0.7 percent year-on-year in December, slower than the 1.3 percent gain in November. Sales have been rising since October last year.

On a monthly basis, retail sales growth accelerated considerably to 7.0 percent in December from 0.4 percent a month ago, supported by faster growth across all commodity groups.

Retailers predicted sales to advance at a faster pace of 1.7 percent annually in January. The uptrun is expected on the back of strong demand for food, beverages, and tobacco products.

However, retailers expect a 2.1 percent monthly contraction at the start of the year due to broad-based declines across all commodity groups as demand normalises after the Christmas national religious holiday and New Year festive period.