Retail sales fell 0.6% in August compared with the previous month in data adjusted for the number of working days and seasonal factors, the statistics institute INS said Thursday.
Sales of food, beverages and tobacco products went up 0.3% on the month, but they could not offset the2.2% monthly decline of fuel sales, while sales of non-food items were down 0.3%.
Sales were still higher against the same month of 2013, INS data showed. The adjusted retail sales were up 5.6% on the year in August, helped by higher demand in the food and non-food sectors.
Food sales went up 9.9% compared with August 2013, while non-food sales increased 7.5%, but sales of fuels fell by 4.3% on the year.
In the first eight months of 2014, adjusted retail sales were up 7.6% compared with the year-earlier period, boosted by growing demand across the board.
In unadjusted data, retail sales were up a mere 0.1% in August from a month earlier, and 3.7% higher compared with the same period of 2013.