Retail sales in Indonesia tumbled by 16.4 percent year-on-year in January 2021, after plunging by 19.2 percent a month earlier. This marked the fourteen straight month of fall in retail trade, amid the prolonged impact caused by the COVID-19 crisis that made people to stay at home most of their time. Sales dropped less for information & communication equipment (-38.8% vs -39.2% in December 2020), food, beverages & tobacco dropped (-7.0% vs -10.3%), clothing (-46.3% vs -59.7%).
Meantime, sales continued to decrease for fuel (-17.1% vs -12.0%), home appliances (-25.8% vs -25.0%), cultural & recreational goods (-53.0% vs -40.0%) and automotive parts & accessories (-22.1% vs -20.0%). On a monthly basis, retail sales declined by 4.3 percent in January, reversing from a 4.8 percent growth in December.
