BERLIN, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- German retail sales unexpectedly fell by a seasonally-adjusted 1.8 percent in June compared to May this year, the German Federal Statistics Office said Monday.

    According to the Wiesbaden-based office, the retail sales in Germany dropped by 1.6 percent year-on-year, signaling that the economic uncertainty unleashed by the global recession resulted in households scaling back consumption.

    Germany is facing its worst economic downturn since World War II and its economy is expected to contract by about 6 percent this year.

    The drop in June brought the fall in retail sales of the country in the first six months of 2009 to 2.1 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

    Last week, official figures showed that German consumer prices fell for the first time in 22 years in July.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis