According to INE, the trade, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles went from a contraction of 6.0% in December to an increase of 3.7% in January, while wholesale sales (including agents), excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles, went from a growth of 2.9% to a reduction of 0.2%.

Retail trade, excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles, accelerated by 1.8 percentage points to an annual growth rate of 4.6%, with the indices for the food and non-food product groups increasing from 0.7% and 4.3% to 4.2% and 4.9%, respectively.

Regarding the employment index, it showed a year-on-year variation of 0.4% in January, identical to that observed in the previous month, with remuneration growing by 5.2%, compared to 5.8% in the previous month.

In monthly terms, the total index grew 1.8% in December and fell 1.4% in January, while the monthly variation rates of the employment and remuneration indices were -1.6% and -16.1%, respectively (and -1.6 % and -15.6% in January 2025).