The decline in sales stemmed from the contraction in sales across all commodity groups monitored. The steepest decline was in the clothing sub-group and the cultural and recreational goods groupJakarta (ANTARA) - Bank Indonesia’s (BI's) retail sales survey results for May 2020 indicated a retail sales drop, mirrored in the Real Sales Index (IPR) falling 20.6 percent (yoy), deeper than the 16.9-percent (yoy) decline in April 2020.
"The decline in sales stemmed from the contraction in sales across all commodity groups monitored. The steepest decline was in the clothing sub-group and the cultural and recreational goods group," BI Executive Director of the Communication Department Onny Widjanarko noted in his latest info here on Wednesday.
According to Widjanarko, the retail sales performance is projected to show slight improvement in June 2020 despite still being in a contraction phase.
This is reflected in the IPR growth forecast of minus 14.4 percent (yoy) in June 2020, not as deep as the contraction in sales in the previous month.
"The improvement in retail sales performance mainly occurred in the food, beverage and tobacco and motor vehicle fuel groups," he noted.
Widjanarko expounded that in terms of prices, inflationary pressures were projected to decrease in the upcoming three and six months (August and November 2020).
The decline in price pressures is reflected in the three- and six-month General Price Expectation Index (IEH) in August and November 2020 of respectively 138.6 and 142.5, lower than 162.4 in July 2020 and 146.4 in October 2020.
Widjanarko attributed this forecasted decline to respondents tending to still maintain selling prices to maintain demand levels. Related news: BI survey indicates continued weakening of consumer optimism in May
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Translator: A Buchori, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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