Retail sales grew across CEE last year

Today, we offer yet another glimpse of retail sales development in 2024. Compared to 2023, when retail sales growth contracted in most of the CEE countries, the recovery was evident over the last year. The retail sector overperformed in Romania and Croatia, where the average growth of retail sales was close to 8% in 2024. Czechia, Slovakia, and Serbia also experienced solid growth of retail sales. In Hungary and Poland, the growth dynamics were the lowest compared to the rest of the region. However, Hungary experienced the biggest contraction of the retail sector in 2023. Strong labor markets as well as real wage gains support a high level of spending. On the other hand, a relatively high propensity to save has been holding off the growth of private consumption to some extent. We believe that the retail sector should continue to expand in 2025, though it may lose some of the impetus from the last year.