Finland's retail sales grow 2.9% in January

Finnish retail sales advanced on an annual basis by 2.9% in January, while for the whole year of 2012 the country's retail sales grew 4.2% and wholesale sales increased 2.8% compared to 2011, a report released by the Statistics Finland showed on Thursday. The report also said the wholesale trade sales surged up 2% annually, whereas sales of motor vehicles dropped 25.7% in January.