In September 2022 Croatia's volume of retail trade fell 0.1 percent month-on-month but inched up 0.4 percent from September 2021, the state news agency Hina said on Friday, citing publicly available figures released by the state statistics bureau.

Retail trade had been rising every month from February 2021 until August 2022, when the positive streak was broken.

Strong inflationary pressures and low consumer optimism contributed to the deceleration in retail trade, while favorable tourism trends in September certainly helped retail trade, analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comments.

In September 2022, compared with September 2021, retail trade in food, drinks and tobacco products fell by 0.8 percent and trade in non-food products, excluding motor fuels decreased by 0.6 percent.

In the first nine months of 2022, retail trade increased by 2.5 percent in real terms compared with the same period in 2021. However, in the third quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year, retail trade declined by 1.3 percent in real terms as a result of high inflation, RBA analysts said.

The continued rise in inflation at double-digit rates will subdue spending through a high perception of inflation due to widespread price increases, while further positive labour market movements will mitigate any notable deterioration in retail trade, RBA analysts said.