Spain's November retail sales fall 0.6% on year

(Reuters) - Spanish retail sales fell 0.6% in November from a year earlier on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, after rising 1.0% in October, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Thursday.

As shoppers grapple with the rising cost of living exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, food sales in Spain recorded an annual decrease of 3.6% in November, INE said.

Meanwhile, sales of other goods grew 0.5% year-on-year.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a new raft of measures worth 10 billion euros ($10.64 billion) to ease the pain of inflation, which includes slashing value-added tax on essential foods to 0% from 4% during the first six months of 2023.

Spanish consumer prices rose 6.8% year-on-year in November, down from 7.3% in the period through October, mainly attributed to lower fuel and electricity prices as well as a more moderate increase in the prices of the new season of clothing and footwear as compared to 2021.

($1 = 0.9401 euros)

(Reporting by Jakub Olesiuk; Editing by David Latona and Elaine Hardcastle)