Retail sales rose at the slowest pace in nine months as higher prices for food and energy prompted consumers to spend less on clothing, the government said Thursday.
Sales climbed 0.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Thursday in Tokyo.
Consumer confidence is at a six-year low as wage growth fails to keep up with the steepest inflation in a decade. A drop in household spending is a risk for the economy at a time when exports, the main driver of growth in the first quarter, are likely to cool.