Retail sales struggle to remain at positive growth rates

TIRANA, March 25 – Retail sales slowed down again in the final quarter of 2013, hinting the Albanian economy faced another tough trimester after the 2.3 percent shrink in the third quarter of the year. INSTAT data published this week show retail sales in the final quarter of the year grew by a mere 0.5 percent and were up by 9.9 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.
The volume of retail sales in “food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores” was up by 3.7 percent compared to the final quarter of 2012.
Retail sales of “trade, maintenance and repair of cars and motorcycles” grew by 0.35 percent compared to the final quarter of 2012 and were up by 4.1 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.
In the third quarter of 2013, when the economy shrank by 2.3 percent, retail sales were up by 2.8 percent compared to the third quarter of 2012 and grew 6.5 percent compared to the second quarter of 2013.
Data published by the country’s Institute of Statistics show retail sales ended their negative growth rates in the third quarter of 2012 when they grew by a mere 0.2 percent year-on-year. Retail sales grew by 13.7 percent and 11.3 percent respectively in the first and second quarters of 2013.