The turnover rate in retail trade rose by 0.5 percent year-on-year in February. This was mostly the result of higher turnover registered in retail sale of automotive fuel in specialised stores by 10.6 percent; retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco by 27.3 percent; and in retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores by 11.3 percent. Turnover decreased mainly in retail sale of other household equipment in specialised stores by 2.9 percent and in retail trade not in stores, stalls or markets by 1.4 percent, the Statistics Office (ŠÚ) informed.
In monthly terms, the turnover rate in retail trade rose by only 0.2 percent.
Analysts say that February did not bring any significant increase in retail trade turnover. They remained rather unchanged for the third month in a row, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Slovak households, however, become braver in other sectors of consumption.
“For example, when making long-term bigger investments, like the purchase of a new car,” said Ľubomír Koršňák, analyst with UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, as quoted by TASR, “also Slovak hoteliers had a relatively successful winter season.”
Poštová Banka analyst Jana Glasová says that the consumption of Slovak households does not increase as significantly as the rise in wages may indicate.
“This is impacted by low interest rates, which make the loans more attractive, and many Slovak households thus ask for home loans or loans to reconstruct their homes,” Glasová said, as quoted by TASR.
As a result, households use money mostly to pay off their loan and their consumption rises only slightly.
Koršňák predicts that the positive development in the labour market, the increasing incomes of households, low interest rates and missing inflation will cause households to spend more in the coming months, as quoted by TASR.
