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Johannesburg - Retail trade sales at constant (2000) prices for July decreased year-on-year for the third consecutive month, recording a drop of 4.6% from a revised -1.5% (-2.6%) in June, figures released on Tuesday by Statistics South Africa show.
This is the lowest growth rate on record since 2001 measurements.
Total retail sales reached R23.313bn from R24.224bn in June and from R24.427bn this time a year ago.
Retail trade sales at current prices, for the three months up to July 2008, increased by 11.0% compared with the three months up to July 2007. The increase for the corresponding period of 2007 was 14.0%.
Retail trade sales at current prices for July 2008 increased by 11.4% compared with July 2007.
The major contributors to the 11.0% increase in retail trade sales at current prices for the three months up to July 2008 compared with the three months up to July 2007 were general dealers (+4.9 percentage points), retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (+2.7 percentage points) and all other retailers (+1.2 percentage points).
Retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment continued to contribute negatively (-0.1 of a percentage point) to the change in retail trade sales, a trend that started with the introduction of the new National Credit Act (Act No. 34 of 2005) in June 2007, notes Stats SA.
Today's data introduced a new sample drawn in 2008 which replaces the previous sample that was drawn in 2007. The sample is drawn from a business register that primarily contains enterprises with an annual turnover of at least R300 000 and are required to register with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) for value added tax.
The reported level of sales for the monthly retail trade sales survey for the months April to June 2008 based on the new sample was 1.6% higher than the level of sales from the previous sample. Stats SA explains this is a result of the replacement of a sample that was drawn in April 2007 that was operational for the last half of 2007 and the first half of 2008.
"The movements in sales over the overlapping months are very similar between the previous and new samples, so that the two series for the survey move largely in parallel.
"This change is as a result of the new sample implemented based on improvements in the business register such as changes in classifications," says Stats SA.
- I-Net Bridge