April 30 (SeeNews) - Serbia’s 4.4% annual retail sales growth in March has exceeded the forecasts of analysts at Austria-based Erste banking group but is still the weakest increase since December 2018, Erste said on Thursday.
"A state of emergency in Serbia was introduced in mid-March, followed by strong lockdown measures. The March figure was hence likely just a glimpse of the slowdown we can expect in April, and to an extent in May," Erste said in an instant comment after Croatia's statistical office published the inflation data earlier in the day.
The long-term outlook of Serbia's retail sales depends on the speed of economic activity normalisation, the fiscal measures in support of the economy, and the overall consumer confidence which will likely take longer time to recover, Erste said.
Month-on-month, retail sales went up by a real 6.9%, following a 0.3% decline the previous month, Serbia's statistical office said earlier on Thursday. At current prices, March's retail sales increased by 4.6% on the year and by 6.5% on the month.
Following are details on Serbia's retail trade turnover by main categories (y/y pct change, real):
|
Mar'20 |
Feb'20 |
Retail trade, except for motor vehicles and motorcycles |
4.4 |
13.3 |
- Food, beverages and tobacco |
14.9 |
11.4 |
- Non-food products (except for automotive fuel) |
-1.0 |
17.1 |
- Automotive fuel |
-9.7 |
11.3 |