retail trade
Hungarians left 2.2% more money in their shops in the first quarter, but in March, at almost 1,600 billion forints, it was already 4.2% more than a year ago.
The retail sector is developing promisingly: a whopping 8% decline last year, stagnation was reached for the first time at the turn of the year, followed in February by cautious growth (+1.6%), which experienced further dynamism in March. The fresh figures from the Central Statistical Office (KSH) also surprised analysts, who had still assigned private consumption a subordinate role in economic growth in the first quarter.
Raw, the increase in the third month was 3.6%, but adjusted for calendar days it was 4.2%, KSH announced the positive news. For the first time, growth took off in the food trade, where sales volume rose by 5.7%, almost twice as fast as in February. At the gas stations the development is currently in the opposite direction due to high oil prices: the dynamic increase of 4.6% at the beginning of the year has now fallen back to 3.3% in March by 3.8% in February. In the context of rising real wages, the experts are least able to explain the continued weak performance in the non-food segment (+0.6% in March, -0.7% in the first quarter).
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