* Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released the latest figures for retail sales, showing a 1.0% decrease in sales volume from April to May, which also marks a yearly drop of 1.0% compared to May 2022. The accumulated sales volume for the first five months of 2023 was 1.3%. Out of the eight categories measured, four saw a monthly drop in May. The categories which saw the greatest decreases were supermarkets, food & drinks (-3.2%), and fabrics, clothes & footwear (-3.3%). Ibge research coordinator Cristiano Santos attributed the slump in some categories to the overall reduction of physical shops and said that not even Mother’s Day celebrated on 14 May, which normally boosts retails sales, could revert the overall decline.
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