(RTTNews) - Sweden's retail sales rose 4.5% year-on-year in December, faster than the 3.6% growth in the previous month, the Statistics Sweden said on Thursday. Economists expected an increase of 5.3%. Month-on-month, retail sales increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in December, after falling 0.6% in November. Economists were looking for an increase of 0.7%.

In the three months ended in November, retail sales rose 0.4% compared to the previous three months period.

In the whole year of 2009, retail sales grew 2.8% from the previous year.