Turkey's retail sales volume, a marker of growing consumer spending, surged 41.7% year-on-year in April due to the base effect brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, according to official data revealed on Friday.

Excluding automotive fuel, non-food sales soared 74.6%, while automotive fuel sales climbed 38.5% compared to the same month of last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

Food, drink and tobacco sales increased 10.2% over the same period.

Last April, the reading deteriorated by 20% on an annual basis when the strict COVID‐19 restrictions were introduced in the country.

Textile, clothing and footwear sales posted the largest annual rise among non-food items, ballooning 276.8% in the month.

Online and mail order sales surged 62.1% in the same period.

Compared to March, retail sales volume in Turkey slipped 6.3% in April.

Turkey relaxed coronavirus-related curbs on movement at the start of March in a process of normalization but tightened them again last month after a surge in COVID-19 cases.