Retail sales mostly grew in the first quarter

Today, we look at retail sales performance during the first quarter of this year, following the completion of data collection from all CEE local offices last week. For a more accurate cross-country comparison, we use Eurostat data on the volume of retail trade, excluding motor vehicles. The highest annual growth in retail sales during the first quarter was observed in Czechia and Croatia. Although Eurostat is still missing March data for Czechia, local sources indicate a solid year-over-year increase of 3.4% for that month. Romania, Hungary, and Slovenia also reported higher retail sales growth than the EU average during the first quarter. Conversely, Poland and Slovakia reported disappointing results, with negative real retail sales growth. In Poland, local statistical office data contradict Eurostat figures, showing slight positive growth in Q1. However, in Slovakia, both local and European sources confirm negative developments. The primary factors contributing to the decline in Slovakia are higher VAT and weaker nominal wage growth, with the transactional tax potentially affecting only the second-quarter data, as it came into force in April.