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South Africa Retail Sales Rise at Slowest Since February 2017

South Africa Retail Sales Rise at Slowest Since February 2017

(Bloomberg) -- Retail sales in South Africa, the continent’s most-industrialized economy, rose at the slowest pace in 15 months in April.

Sales climbed 0.5 percent from a year earlier, Pretoria-based Statistics South Africa said in a statement on its website Wednesday. That’s less than the revised 4.6 percent expansion for March and compares with a median estimate of 4.4 percent in a Bloomberg survey.

South Africa Retail Sales Rise at Slowest Since February 2017

Gross domestic product hasn’t grown at more than 2 percent a year since 2013 and is struggling to gain momentum despite political changes earlier this year that bolstered investor confidence. South Africa’s economy shrank the most in almost a decade in the first quarter as Jacob Zuma handed the reins of power to Cyril Ramaphosa, racking up the worst performance of the former president’s tenure.

To contact the reporter on this story: Odwa Mjo in Johannesburg at omjo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, Ana Monteiro

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