Real supermarket sales fall 0.24% in February

Actual sales of supermarkets of Brazil in February fell 0.24 percent on the same period in 2016 and 1.93% in comparison with January, reported on Tuesday (3/28) to Abras (Brazilian Association of Supermarkets).
In the first quarter, the National Sales Index builds up 0.07% decline compared to the previous year. In nominal terms, sales of the supermarket sector in February rose 4.56% compared with February 2016, but fell 1.61 percent compared to January.
"Brazil still feels the reflections of the crisis; the unemployment rate has been growing since last year, and in January came to 12.6%, which impacts the purchasing power of the Brazilian, who is more cautious and less to the point of sale, "said the President of Open, João Sanzovo Neto. In a statement distributed with the February data, he said that the entity is waiting for more stable until the end of the first half.