In October 2017, the volume of retail sales in Hungary grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year. This has been the 52th month of rising sales in a row. Since January 2010, the sector posted sales growth of 24.4 percent, while compared to the beginning of 2014 sales have increased by 21.3 percent.

Higher sales were registered in every retail sub sector in the observed period. Non-food retailers saw sales growth of 9.7 percent. Households continued to carry out purchases which they had delayed during the crisis years and thus the sales volume of durable goods has picked up even more. This trend is also reflected in the multi-month dynamic growth of consumption loans. The volume of sales at specified and non-specified food retailers gained 3.1 percent year-on-year despite the fact that sales volumes in this sub sector had exceeded pre-crisis levels already in 2014. The sales of fuels gained 7.1 percent compared to the same period of 2016.

The Government is expecting positive trends to persist, thanks partly to the six-year wage agreement. Labour market measures caused real wages to rise by 10.2 percent in Q1-Q3 2017, year-on-year. Household demand for services has also increased at a faster pace than retail sales growth and this may also signal the sector’s future expansion.

(Ministry for National Economy)