Motor vehicle and motorcycle wholesalers and retailers and repair service providers registered a 15.3% annual increase to 386.8 million euros in their combined sales for the two months. Food and beverage service providers' sales went up by 12.2% to 80.1 million euros, the statistics office said.
Year-on-year, food product, alcohol and tobacco retailers increased their sales by 6.7%, and non-food retailers, excluding the auto-related sector, by 8.1%. Automotive fuel retailers posted a 6.6% rise in sales.
In February compared with January, the country's retail sales, not including car sales and repairs and food and beverage service providers, fell by 2.6% to 647.7 million euros. On a seasonally adjusted basis, however, sales rose by 1.1%.
