Retail sales in Indonesia plunged by 19.2% year-on-year in December 2020, after slumping by 16.3% a month earlier. This marked the thirteen straight month of fall in retail trade, and the steepest pace since May, amid the prolonged impact caused by the COVID-19 crisis that made people to stay at home most of their time. Sales fell more for information & communication equipment (-39.2% vs -36.3% in November), food, beverages & tobacco dropped (-10.3% vs -6.6%), clothing (-59.7% vs -56.6%). Meantime, sales continued to decline for fuel (-12.0% vs -14.3%), home appliances (-25.0% vs -26.3%), cultural & recreational goods (-40.0% vs -40.3%) and automotive parts & accessories (-20.0% vs -21.6%). On a monthly basis, retail sales rose by 4.8% in December, the most since December 2019, rebounding from an 1.2% drop in November.
