BRUSSELS: Eurozone retail sales fell slightly in February, dropping 0.1 percent from the level in January, European Union figures showed on Wednesday.
On a 12-month basis, retail sales fell 2.1 percent in February from the figure for the same month last year, according to the Eurostat statistics agency.
The drop followed a monthly increase of 1.1 percent in January across the 17-nation single currency area.
The biggest declines were recorded in Slovenia (5.0 percent) and Poland (2.7 percent), while the strongest increases were seen in Malta (4.7 percent) and Luxembourg (2.2 percent).
In the wider, 27-nation EU, which includes Britain, retail sales fell 0.4 percent in February compared to the figure for January. On a 12-month comparison, they declined by 1.1 percent.