Retail sales, the main indicator that measures the consumerspending trend, fell by 7.2% in December last year against the sameperiod of 2009, with the biggest decline being recorded by non-foodproducts, show data of the National Statistics Institute(INS).
The last month of the year, which traditionally boasted higherconsumption, came with a more significant decline than in precedingmonths. For the full 2010, retailers' working day and seasonallyadjusted turnover fell by 5.5%.
"These are disappointing figures, retail sales fell from one monthto the next starting in October, after a slight recovery wasrecorded in the summer. This can only be as a result of the VATincrease and of the salary cuts, which amounted to a decline in thedisposable income," comments Ionuţ Dumitru, chief economist ofRaiffeisen Bank. He says in light of the latest data the economy islikely to have contracted in the fourth quarter against theprevious one, although everybody was expecting growth.
"We can only hope that this year will be better. We expect a 1%rise in consumption, which is not much," Dumitru adds.
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