Fuel sales increased 9.2% on the year in the first quarter, while sales of food and non-food items were up 5.1% and 1.4% on the year, respectively.
The data are adjusted for the number of working days and seasonal factors.
In unadjusted data, first-quarter retail sales increased 3.7% on the year, again boosted by higher sales in all sectors.
In March alone, adjusted retail sales inched up 1.2% from a month earlier, and were up 3.1% compared with the same month of 2011. Unadjusted March sales rose 18.8% on the month and 1.8% on the year.