According to the data, Spanish retail sales declined in the month of November at the steepest rate since May in calendar-adjusted terms, as falling customer demand showed little sign of perking up.

Country’s retail sales have dropped by 5.5% year-on-year in the month of November in calendar-adjusted terms as compared with a 2.7% year-on-year decline in the month of October and a record 9.1% fall in February this year.

Adjusting only for inflation, retail sales came down by 4.3% year-on-year, hitting the 19th successive month of shrinkage for that measure.

However, economists warned that the non-seasonally adjusted data was totally volatile but November’s sudden fall expressed that Spain’s economy was still dawdling behind its European peers.

While talking to reporters, economist at Merrill Lynch, Guillaume Menuet said, “We were hoping for a positive gross domestic product figure quarter-on-quarter for the fourth quarter, but November's retail figures call that into question.”

Further, Lynch said, “Spain is recovering gradually but it might be that we don't see positive growth until the first quarter of next year.”

Meanwhile, the Spanish Prime Minister told reporters that the economy may see positive GDP before the end of 2009 after six straight quarters of fall, but the economy minister said that the growth would start from 2010.