Retail sales soar ahead in February

Retail sales in the Czech Republic advanced at the brisk rate of 6.3 percent in February compared with the same month a year earlier, the Czech Statistical Office announced on Friday. That was the strongest sales showing since October 2008, just before the county sunk into a long recession, the office added. The biggest rise in sales was in goods ordered over the Internet or through mail order outlets which were up just over 25 percent. The biggest leap in demand was for information and communications equipment with purchases up 20 percent.