In retail trade, sales increased by 4.8%, accelerating from 3.0% in the previous month, according to data released today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Meanwhile, wholesale trade recovered from a 2.8% decrease in April to a growth of 0.8% in May.
In nominal terms, the total trade index grew by 5.0% year-on-year, accelerating by 3.5 percentage points (p.p.) compared to the previous period.
The category of trade, maintenance, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles accelerated from 5.1% in April to 11.5% in May, similar to wholesale trade (including agents), which increased from 0.2% in April to 3% in May. Retail trade, after a growth of 1.9% in the previous month, rose by 4.5%.
The monthly change in the total index stood at 4.2%, following a decrease of 0.9% in the previous month.
According to INE, the employment and remuneration indices showed year-on-year variations of -0.1% and 4.7%, respectively, compared with variations of 0.5% and 5.9% in April.
