Retail sales, a key indicator of private consumption, decreased at the steepest pace in about three-and-a-half years in August.

According to Statistics Korea on Sunday, the index of retail sales posted 102-point-six in August, down five-point-two percent from a year earlier.

This marks the largest fall in three years and five months since March 2020, after the outbreak of COVID-19, when it plunged seven-point-one percent on-year.

From a month earlier, the index decreased zero-point-three percent, falling for the second consecutive month, which is the first in about a year after it declined for four months in a row from April to July last year.

Quasi-durable goods such as clothing and shoes suffered the largest fall, slipping seven-point-six percent in August from a year earlier.

Economic data for the second quarter also indicated a slowdown in private consumption. According to the Bank of Korea, the country’s private consumption decreased by one tenth of a percent in the April-June period from the previous quarter.