Retail up by 16.5 percent in 2008

Romanian retail could amount to RON 121 billion (€38 bln), of which more than half will be made up of sales of foodstuffs, a study by Polish research and advisory company (Polish Market Review) PMR writes.

Last year’s retail growth in Romania amounted to 18 percent, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), one of the highest ratios in the European Union.

Data regarding retail growth in January is not available for Romania in the Eurostat report. However, retail sales increased by 0.6 percent month-on-month in the EU 27 in January, and by 0.4 percent in the euro-zone. At an annual level, the increase was 1.8 percent in the EU 27, while the euro-zone posted a 0.1 percent drop.

Eurostat reports that the highest growth rates were registered in Belgium (9.5 percent), Lithuania (7.4 percent) and Portugal (4.1 percent).