Romania’s retail sales up 6.4% y/y in Q1
<p>The retail sales volume index increased by 6.4% y/y in Q1, Romania’s statistics office INS announced.</p>

<p>The sales of non-food goods have particularly leaped up by 12.3% y/y, witnessing robust consumer confidence and heralding the return of private consumption as a significant growth driver this year.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At the same time, the strong retail sales readings don’t bode well for the trade balance that has stabilized nominally through 2023 and decreased as a share of GDP, still accounting for some 9% of GDP in 12 months to February (latest data available).</p>

<p>Non-food sales increased by only 1.8% y/y, although the food prices increased by only 4.3% y/y compared to the 7.7% y/y rise in non-food prices in Q1.</p>

<p>The sales index surged by 5% q/q in Q1, driven by the 9.3% q/q advance of non-food sales.</p>

<p>The households’ rising budgets were visibly at the origin of retailers’ robust overall performance in Q1. At the same time, the discrepancy between the dynamics of food and non-food sales reveals the still wide and possibly rising income disparity.</p>

<p>The net wages rose by 6.4% y/y in January-February on average (latest data available), and the volume of new consumer loans extended by banks surged by 83.5% y/y in Q1, adding to households’ earnings and boosting their purchasing power.</p>

<p><em>iulian@romania-insider.com</em></p>

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