Retail sales in Indonesia dropped by 8.7% year-on-year in September 2020, after declining by 9.2% a month earlier. This marked the tenth straight month of fall in retail trade, but the weakest pace since March, amid the prolonged impact caused by the COVID-19 crisis that made people to stay at home most of their time. Sales fell less for most categories: clothing (-59.7 percent vs -64.9 percent in August), fuel (-18.7 percent vs -23.5 percent), automotive parts & accessories (-23.3 percent vs -25.2 percent). In addition, sales of food, beverages & tobacco increased faster (3.1 percent vs 2.7 percent).

Meantime, sales decreased more for home appliances (-26.2 percent vs -24.5 percent), cultural & recreational goods (-39.5 percent vs -38.2 percent), and information & communication equipment (-22.2 percent vs -19.2 percent). On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped by 1.4 percent in September, the first monthly decline since April, after a 1.3 percent growth in August.