After a one-month decline, retail sales in Slovakia in May returned to modest growth, helped in particular by sales of motor fuels. In April, retail sales fell 1.9 percent year-on-year, but in May they grew by 0.6 percent, to €1.478 billion, the SITA newswire reported, citing the Slovak Statistics Office (ŠÚ).
During the first five months of this year retail sales reached €7.058 billion and maintained an annual growth rate of 0.5 percent. In monthly terms, retail sales in May increased compared to April by 0.6 percent. Year-on-year development was influenced by a 6.2 percent increase in sales of motor fuels in specialised outlets. Retail sales in Slovakia declined in 2011 (by 2.8 percent) and in the preceding two years. In 2009, the sector suffered the impact of the economic crisis as well as shopping tourism (i.e. Slovaks travelling to neighbouring countries to shop), resulting in a year-on-year drop in retail sales of over 10 percent in that year.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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