South Africa July retail sales growth quickens to 2.8 pct y/y

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's retail sales grew 2.8 percent year-on-year in July, far below forecasts, but higher than the revised 1.4 percent recorded in June, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. On a month-on-month basis, sales were down half a percent but rose 3.4 percent in the three months to July compared with the same period a year ago. Economists polled by Reuters had expected year-on-year sales growth of 4.5 percent in July.