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Retail sales, excluding VAT (value-added tax), increased a working-day adjusted 6.2% year-on-year in September, following a 7.3% rise in August.

Sales of non-food stores increased 9.9% annually in September and sales in specialized stores rose 8.6%. Sales in non-specialized stores, and those of food, alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 4.3% and 4.4%, respectively. On a month-on-month basis, retail sales fell 0.4% in September.