Retail sales registered a universal boost throughout the eurozone last November and Portugal was the country showing the largest increase, with a 3.1% rise over the previous month.
Recent data released by Eurostat shows that eurozone retail sales – a proxy for consumer demand – rebounded 1.4% after a 0.4% decline in October, making it the fastest monthly increase since November 2001.
Retails sales also grew compared to the same month in 2012, with Portugal seeing its sales rise by 3.5% while the eurozone sales went up by 1.6%.
This all happened in spite of unemployment rates that continue at a record high. Economists have admitted to being taken by surprise by the comeback in retail sales.
Speaking to business newspaper Jornal de Negócios, Newedge Strategy economist Annalisa Piazza said: “Retail sales have been much more robust than expected and data shows considerable improvements in the sale of food and non-food products.”
Data shows, in fact, that the monthly expansion was led by a 2% rise in the volume of sales of all non-food products, while the sale of food products grew 1.1%.
Although the EU is sure to take pride in this improvement, officials will be focusing on bringing down the 12.1% unemployment rate which translates into 19.2 million eurozone citizens without work.
