RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Christmas sales in Brazil fell 1.7 percent in 2014 compared to the same period last year, the credit consulting company Serasa Experian said Friday.
It was the first drop in Christmas sales since Brazil began to keep records of the economic indicator in 2003. The figures mark a distinct change from 2013, when Christmas sales rose 2.7 percent from the previous year.
Serasa Experian, which tallied sales figures from Dec. 18 to 24, attributed the fall to a combination of factors.
"High interest rates that made credit more expensive, increased inflation and low consumer confidence negatively affected Christmas sales this year," the company said.
The figures reflect the poor performance of the Brazilian economy, which had a lackluster first half of the year and entered a technical recession in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1 percent, pulling the country out of a technical recession, but indicating a very low GDP growth for the year.
The 2014 economic growth rate is expected to be announced in late February or early March.
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