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Indonesia's retail sales pick up in June as economy reopens

Xinhua News,JAKARTA
2020-08-11 12:51

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JAKARTA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The retail sales in Indonesia started improving in June as the business activities have resumed along with easing of restrictions applied to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic.

A survey by the central bank, Bank Indonesia, showed on Tuesday that annualized retail sales decelerated 17.1 percent in June compared with minus 20.6 percent in May.

The improvement of sales occurred in all groups of items surveyed, primarily automotive fuel, foods, beverages and tobacco, and communication and information devices.

The sales improvement was forecast to continue in July with sales' prediction of minus 12.3 percent in the month on the yearly basis due to the hike in sales of foods, beverages, tobacco and household appliances.

For the next three months (till September), the price pressure was projected to falter as indicated by the index of price expectation in September at 131.5 compared with 138.6 in August.

However, the pressure was expected to rise in the next six months (till December) as indicated by the price expectation in the month at 156.1, rising from 142.5 in November.

The government commenced reopening mall shopping centers in June along with tight health protocols and the gradual relaxation of partial lockdowns which had restricted people mobility and halted spending on consumption.

Inflation ticked up 0.18 percent in June on the monthly basis from 0.07 percent in May, according to data from the National Central Agency of Statistics.

Consumption represents over half of the gross domestic product growth in the Southeast Asian biggest economy.

The retail sales improvement in June was along with the rebound of motorbike and car sales in the month after the Purchasing Managers' Index picked up.

The government has striven to avoid a deep recession by attempting to avoid economic contraction in the third quarter after the country logged a minus 5.32 percent of the economic growth in the second quarter, the first contraction since the Asian Financial Crisis.

The sanguine expectation over the reliability of vaccine for the COVID-19 for usage early next year has offset concern of virus transmission which has been afloat as of late.

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