TIRANA, Dec. 23 – Retail sales registered a significant 7.8 percent annual increase in the third quarter of the year, the peak of the tourist season, hinting a recovery in domestic demand and economic growth. Data published by the country’s state statistical institute, INSTAT, shows retail sales grew by 7.8 percent year-on-year in July-Sept. 2015 fuelled by a 17.4 percent increase in the volume of retail sales in non-specialized ‘food, beverage and tobacco’ stores.
However, retail sales of fuel continued contracting for the fourth quarter in a row, declining by 2.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of the year.
The retail sales data, published ahead of the GDP for the third quarter of the year scheduled for early next January, indicate the Albanian economy continued recovering.
However, short-term data indicated a rather pessimistic picture with the turnover index in the industry, energy, construction and services sector up by only 0.5 percent compared to the third quarter of 2014.
The Albanian economy registered an annual growth rate of 2.53 percent in the second quarter of 2015 fuelled a recovery in the long-ailing construction sector and a boost in the domestic hydro-dependant electricity generation, according to INSTAT.
The economy grew by an average of 2.65 percent in the first half of this year and seems on track to achieve its new revised target of 2.7 percent for 2015.
