July 6 (SeeNews) - Romania's retail sales rose by a seasonally and working-day adjusted 7.3% year-on-year in the first five months of 2022, the statistical office, INS, said on Wednesday.
Also on an adjusted basis, sales of food, beverages and tobacco rose by an annual 5.2%, non-food sales increased 6.3% and sales of fuels were up 9.5% compared to the like period of 2021, INS said in a statement.
Based on unadjusted data, retail sales climbed 5.7% on the year in the first five months of 2022.
In May alone, Romania's retail sales increased by an adjusted 6.2% year-on-year, after rising by 3.7% the month before. On a monthly comparison basis, retail trade turnover edged up by an adjusted 0.9% in May, after rising by 0.3% in April, the data indicated.
The figures do not include trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles.
According to an analysis by Erste published on Wednesday, high inflation and rising interest rates are key risks for the future development of retail sales. "We think that retail sales could slow down to +6.5% in 2022 vs +10.1% in 2021," Erste said in an e-mailed note.
Analysts also point out that In June, retail managers reported stronger optimism in the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) survey supported by significantly better past sales. Also, Google data shows that consumers’ mobility towards retail centres improved in May versus April but was almost unchanged in June on average. Moreover, new consumer loans in lei were strong in May, reaching the second highest monthly level on the historical time series, Erste noted.
Details follow, seasonally and working-day adjusted data (pct change):
|
Jan-May y/y |
May y/y |
May m/m |
Retail sales |
7.3 |
6.2 |
0.9 |
-food sales |
5.2 |
6.8 |
-0.1 |
-non-food sales |
6.3 |
4.8 |
1.0 |
-fuels |
9.5 |
7.4 |
-1.1 |
Romania's retail sales increased by an annual 10.1% in 2021.
(1 euro=4.9449 lei)