Germany’s retailers did better business in February for the second month in a row. The dealers turned over both price-adjusted (0.3 percent) and nominally (0.6 percent) more than in January, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday. The retail trade was thus able to recover from the decline in sales at the end of the year, although the 2G rule still applied to many shops, i.e. shops were only allowed to admit vaccinated and recovered people.
Compared to the same month last year, sales were significantly higher. In real terms, i.e. adjusted for price increases, the plus was 7 percent and nominally 11 percent. A year earlier, a partial lockdown slowed down trade. Compared to February 2020, the month before the outbreak of the pandemic, retail sales in February 2022 were 4.4 percent higher in real, calendar and seasonally adjusted terms. (dpa)