Retail trade turnover in September increased for the eighth consecutive month, going up by more than 14 percent year-on-year, "signalling a continued recovery of spending - and the economy in general - from the coronavirus crisis," state agency Hina said on Friday.

According to figures released by the state statistics bureau on Friday, the volume of retail trade in September 2021 had remained unchanged from August – however, compared to September 2020 it was up by 14.5 percent. Hina did not cite the nominal value of this turnover.

The retail growth slowed down from August, when it jumped by 18.3 percent year-on-year. Still, September was the eighth consecutive month to see a year-on-year rise in retail trade turnover after it had been going down for 11 months from February 2020 to January 2021 due to the coronavirus crisis.

The retail trade turnover of food, drinks and tobacco in August rose by 12.7 percent, while the retail trade turnover of non-food products – not including fuel – had jumped by 10.2 percent year-on-year.

Continuation of recovery from coronavirus crisis

Over the first nine months retail trade turnover rose by 13.6 percent compared to the same period of 2020, while in the entire year 2020 it dropped by 5.8 percent.

The continuation of strong retail trade turnover growth “indicates a continued recovery of the economy from the coronavirus crisis,” Hina surmised. “In Q2 2021 Croatia’s GDP jumped by a record 16 percent year-on-year, which was the first time it went up after going down for four consecutive quarters,” Hina added, without citing nominal GDP value.

The continuation of the strong economic recovery in Q3 2021 is indicated by a jump in retail trade turnover of 15.2 percent compared to the same period of last year.

“In addition to the labour market recovery and consumers’ growing expectations, household spending will significantly contribute to economic recovery also in the second half of 2021… Tax authorities’ data on receipts issued indicates the continuation of double-digit year-on-year growth rates in the retail sector, even exceeding figures seen in pre-pandemic years,” analysts from Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in an unsigned commentary.