Its seems Europeans remain
 reluctant to spend, despite
the end of the global recession, following reported flat December retail sales on the previous month, in the 16 countries that use the euro.

Eurostat, EU's statistics office, reported a 1.6% decline, year-on-year. The figures published sit well below market expectations of a 0.5% increase.

On a less negative note, the 1.2% decline reported for November was revised, now showing a fall of only 0.5%. The figures suggest the road to European economic recovery may be longer than retailers had hoped for.

Majority of the mild economic growth reported has been due to an increase in global trade volumes, boosting exports, particularly in Germany.

Analysts say that domestic demand will need to take higher precedence in order to increase the speed of financial recovery.

When the countries that make up the wider EU are consider, including non-euro members such as Britain and Sweden, retail sales declined by 0.1% during December, representing a 1% decline on the previous year. For 2009 collectively, retail sales fell 2.3% in the eurozone and by 1.7% in the EU.