Christmas accessories are displayed for sale on a street in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Dec. 13, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

 Christmas sales in Brazil rose 9.5 percent in 2019 over 2018, the country's Mall Shop Owners' Association (Alshop) announced on Thursday.

According to Alshop, the figure is the best since 2014, when Brazil started to undergo an economic crisis from which it has yet to fully recover.

The good sales were attributed to a combination of factors, including a rise in job generation figures; a fall in the interest rate, which reached record-low 4.5 percent; and the release of some unemployment funds by the government in a move to boost the economy.

Alshop also said that the malls sector grew by 7.5 percent in 2019 against 2018. That, too, was the best growth registered in the sector since 2014, the association said.

"Sales grew above average in a year marked by important facts, such as the approval of the social security reform and an efficient economic policy management, which allowed for the reduction in the interest rate," said Nabil Sahyoun, president of Alshop.