【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.234: Sharp decline in retail sales in April 2020

The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry has released the retail sales statistics for April 2020, which has revealed the economic impact of people refraining from going out to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Figure 1 shows the seasonal adjustment indices of retail sales. The index of the total retail industry fell from 103.1 in February to 89.0 in April. In particular, the clothes and personal items fell sharply, with the index reaching 48.1 in April. The automobile index is noteworthy, in that it dropped from 106.0 in March to 80.7 in April. The food index, however, has not fallen and remains at 105.2.

Table 1 shows the actual sales figures in JPY. Automobile sales, which totaled JPY 1,785 billion in March 2020, fell to JPY 1,087 billion in April. The sales of clothing and personal items was at JPY 419 billion in April 2020, meaning it fell by 60% compared with the JPY 1,054 billion in December 2019.

Figure 1 Retail sales seasonal adjustment indices

Table 1 Actual retail sales