Berlin - AFP
Retail sales in Germany declined for the second month in a row in May, confounding analysts\' expectations for a slight rise, official data showed on Friday.
Retail sales fell by 0.3 percent in May compared with April in price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted terms, according to provisional figures by the federal statistics office Destatis.
Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a slight increase of 0.2 percent following a decline of 0.2 percent in April.
On a 12-month basis, retail sales were down by 1.1 percent in May, the statisticians calculated.
Monthly retail sales data are volatile and subject to frequent revision.