Berlin, May 29 - German retail sales unexpectedly rose in April, raising hopes that consumer spending could help support the economy after a record slump in gross domestic product in the first quarter, official data showed on Friday.
Sales rose by 0.5 percent from the previous month in seasonally adjusted terms, the Federal Statistics Office said on Friday -- the strongest increase since December.
The mid-range forecast of analysts polled by Reuters was for retails sales to be unchanged month-on-month.
Year-on-year, sales fell by 0.8 percent.
German GDP contracted by 3.8 percent in the first three months of 2009 but private consumption took some of the edge off the blow, rising by 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, boosted by a government subsidy to encourage car buying.
"Today's numbers give some hope that private consumption could cushion the downswing of the German economy even once the (government) car scrap scheme has been fully utilised," said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING financial markets.
The stats office also said German March retail sales had been revised up to show a drop of 0.4 percent on the month. It had originally reported a monthly decline of 1.0 percent.
"So far, German consumers have been the positive surprise during the recession. Consumer confidence has been stable for several months. Now, it looks as if consumers are finally putting their money where their mouth is," said Brzeski.
In nominal terms, sales were up by 0.9 percent month-on-month and down by 0.9 percent on the year.
The data were based on sales from seven states accounting for around 76 percent of retail activity in Germany.
In the first four months of 2009, sales were down by 2.4 percent both in nominal and real terms year-on-year.
Worries about the outlook remain, with unemployment rising for the seventh month running in May.