August 30 (SeeNews) - Croatia's retail sales increased by a real 3.6% on the year in terms of volume in July, coming below the 4.5% growth expected by analysts at Austria-based Erste banking group, it said on Friday.
Even though the July growth figure is lower than Erste's forecast, it is very much in line with expectations for an increase "close to mid-single digit growth tempo," Erste said in an instant comment on Friday after the country's statistical office published retail sales data earlier in the day
The statistical office also said that retail trade turnover grew by a real 4.2% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2019.
Erste expects private consumption to remain strong by the end of the year after being one of growth engines in the second quarter. Private consumption was up 2.7% year-on-year in the second quarter, contributing to the country's GDP growth of 2.4% on the year in April-June.
"Namely, improving labour market conditions and low-interest-rate environment spur credit growth thus giving a boost to retail trade and overall consumption activity", Erste added.