Canada's retail sales in December grew by a robust 2.5% on a monthly basis, beating analysts' expectations, as a sales tax holiday bumped up spending on food and beverages and people also bought cars and vehicle parts,

Retail sales were up by 2.5 per cent to $69.6 billion in December, led by increases at food and beverage retailers, Statistics Canada said Friday. All nine subsectors had an increase in sales for the month.

Canadian retail sales grew by 2.5% in December from November at C$69.59 billion ($49.05 billion), led by increased sales at food and beverage retailers, as well as motor vehicle and parts dealers, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Retail sales in Canada decreased 0.40% in January over the previous month. Retail sales increased 2.5% to $69.6 billion in December.  Core retail sales—which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers—were up 2.