In Croatia, retail consumption increased by 2.1 percent year-on-year in March, marking the 43rd consecutive month of growth, and it was faster than the previous month. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) published a report on retail trade on Monday, and according to seasonally adjusted data, consumption in March rose by 2.5 percent compared to the previous month, while it increased by 2.1 percent compared to March of last year.
This is a faster growth than a month earlier, when consumption rose by 1.2 percent year-on-year, but somewhat slower than expected. Three macroeconomists who participated in a Hina survey expected an average consumption growth of 2.3 percent year-on-year in March, with their growth estimates ranging widely from 0.5 to 3.8 percent.
>>>DZS: Consumption Increased for the 42nd Consecutive Month, but Significantly Slower
Thus, in March, the record positive trend continued, given that the last year-on-year decline in consumption was recorded in August 2014. The growth of consumption for 43 consecutive months has not been recorded since DZS began tracking these data. In March, the year-on-year turnover from retail trade in food, beverages, and tobacco products increased by 3.8 percent, while retail sales of non-food products strengthened by 2.8 percent.
“The acceleration of growth in March was supported by stronger growth rates in the categories of non-specialized stores predominantly selling food, by 13.1 percent, other non-specialized stores, by 18.2 percent, as well as growth in specialized stores selling food and textiles, clothing, footwear, and leather products. Stronger growth was limited by declines in other categories of retail trade,” analysts from Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) noted in their commentary on the DZS report. In the first three months of this year, retail trade turnover increased by 3.1 percent compared to the same period last year.
