German retail sales up 1.5%

German retail sales increased by 1.5 percent year-on-year in November 2013, the fastest pace since January when the figure read 2.9 percent, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said Tuesday. The rapid growth in retail sales contrasted markedly with a 0.8 percent drop in October and a 0.1 percent decrease in September. In the first eleven month of 2013, retail sales in the Europe' s largest economy increased by 0.3 percent in real terms, according to Destatis.. Christmas season should be the boosting power of November's growth. According to German retailers trade association (HDE), German retail sales would reach 80.6 billion euros (109.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the November-December Christmas shopping season, up 1.2 percent from the previous year. Destatis estimated that for the whole year of 2013, the retail sales growth would stand between 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent in nominal terms. In real terms, the figure was expected to be between 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent.