According to the data of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, retail sales increased by 3.8 percent in December compared to the same month of the previous year.
Economists had expected retail sales to rise 3.0 percent in December, which has been steadily increasing for the past 10 months.
In December, industrial production decreased by 0.1 percent compared to the previous month. The expectation was for a 1.2 percent decrease.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry expects industrial production to follow a horizontal course in January and to grow by 4.1 percent in February. In December, the unemployment rate in Japan remained unchanged compared to the previous month and became 2.5 percent.
