Rio, April 20, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Retail sales in Brazil grew 5.11% in February. This figure appears in the Monthly Survey of Commerce released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which also reveals a 7.7% boost in nominal sales revenues.

With this performance, the sector terminates the first two months of 2004 with increases of 5.56% in sales volume and 9.03% in nominal revenues. The cumulative figures for the past 12 months show a drop in sales (-2.41%), while nominal revenues rose 12.17%.

According to the survey, the small decline in the monthly retail growth index from 5.98% in January to 5.11% in February was influenced by the smaller total of business days, due to the Carnaval holidays in February.

Just as in the previous month, 21 of the 27 members of the federation (26 states plus the Federal District) presented positive results in February.

Translator: David Silberstein