Retail sales in the Eurozone rose in January, giving hope that the sector might have moved on from a disappointing December.
A bulletin from statistics agency Eurostat said that sales in the 19 countries that use the euro were up 2.2% compared to the previous January. Across the EU as a whole, sales were up 1.3%.
This came after December saw sales in the euro countries fall 1.4% and in the overall EU falling 1.3%.
The biggest yearly increases were seen in Slovenia, which rose 11% and Ireland, which rose 8.1%. However, Finland and Denmark saw sales decrease 1.3% and 0.3% respectively.
Year-on-year, non-food product sales rose 1.7% in the euro area and 2.3% across the whole EU.
The figures did not break down online and offline sales.
