Retail growth slumps

Russian retail sales growth unexpectedly slumped in October after unemployment increased for the first time since January and slower-than-estimated gains in wages and incomes curbed consumer purchasing power.

Receipts at merchants rose 3.8 per cent from a year earlier, the slowest pace since February 2010, after a 4.4 per cent increase in September, the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The economic figures “can be linked to slower growth in incomes, wages and a relatively high level of the inflation rate,” Alexander Morozov, chief economist for Russia at HSBC Holdings Plc in Moscow.

Source: www.freshplaza.com