Earthquake- and tsunami-ravaged Japan revealed Wednesday that retail sales in the country for the month of March decreased by 8.5 percent.
The decrease is a clear indication of the extent of the damage caused by the multiple natural disasters which hit the country in the month, analysts say.
A massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake which generated destructive tsunamis which badly hurt the country’s northeastern seaboard hit the Asian country on March 11.
As of late nearly 15,000 people have been confirmed dead with estimates of total deaths pegged at more than 20,000.
The Japanese government itself estimates the cost of the incident to be upwards of $300 billion making it the costliest natural disaster in the history of the country.
According to reports, the retail sales decrease followed a 0.1 percent increase for the previous month of February. The decrease is caused by the Japanese cutting spending on non-essential items, authorities say.
The government of Japan revealed that car sales decreased by 32.8 percent in March compared to the same month last year. Machinery sales were also down by 17.3 percent while clothes and textiles sales plunged 10 percent. Fuel sales, however, increased by 5.1 percent, Japanese authorities say.
