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Retail sales rebound in November to pre-Delta level
The retail sales index hit 199.7 in November, the highest level since May, the month before the Delta wave took hold of the country.
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Come back, soon: A woman walks past a fashion outlet at a shopping mall in Serpong, Tangerang, Banten, in June 2020. The mall offered strong discounts to attract customers. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)
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etailers expect sales to improve to a six-month high in November, signaling a continued recovery in domestic consumption, according to a Bank Indonesia (BI) survey.
BI reported Friday that the retail sales index had risen 10.1 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 199.7 in November, the highest level since May, the month before the Delta wave took hold of the country, when it was 227.5.
However, the November figure remains below prepandemic levels, when it was typically above 200, indicating that consumption has not yet returned to normal.
“The rise [in November] is driven by sales in the majority of categories, such as vehicle fuel and food, drinks and tobacco,” wrote BI in a statement.
Retail sales began recovering from the Delta wave last month, when the index grew 5.2 percent annually, more than making up for the 2.2 percent contraction seen in August, as the public activity restrictions (PPKM) eased, stimulus programs were carried out and global supply chain snags eased.
In November, the government further eased the PPKM in Jakarta to level 1, the lowest of four levels, as new daily cases in the capital remained relatively low.
According to the BI survey, retail sales in November would be led by fuel sales, rising 34.9 percent yoy to 98.8, and by food, drinks and tobacco sales, rising 17.5 percent to 260.4.
