February 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's retail sales grew 5.7% year-on-year in 2018, the country’s statistical office said on Tuesday.
In December alone, retail sales rose by an adjusted 2.7% on the year but were 1% lower on the month, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) said in a statement.
On an unadjusted comparison basis, retail sales rose 4.0% on the year in December.
According to ING Bank analysts, retail sales still ended the last quarter of 2018 in a relatively strong position, posting a 3.1% quarter on quarter advance from a -0.2% sequential contraction in the third quarter. The latter was not reflected by household consumption data from national accounts suggesting that third-quarter GDP was inflated by self-sufficient consumption.
"Data breakdown for December looks particularly soft, with non-food turnover posting a -1.4% MoM contraction as people likely bought Christmas presents during Black Friday discounts. This, combined with a pretty large statistical base effect, has led to a slowdown for non-food sales to 2.1% YoY in December from 6.8% previously," ING Bank analysts said on Tuesday in a daily snapshot of Romania's economy.
Romania's retail sales grew 10.7% in 2017.
Details follow, seasonally and working-day adjusted data (pct change):
|
2018 y/y |
Dec y/y |
Retail sales |
5.7 |
2.7 |
- food sales |
6.5 |
5.1 |
- non-food sales |
6.4 |
2.1 |
- fuels |
3.3 |
0.0 |
Source: INS