In an interview with public news channel M1 on Wednesday, Minister of State for Economic Regulation Béla Glattfelder said that retail sales in June were exceptionally high, recording a growth rate adjusted for calendar effects of 6.2%.

The Minister of State emphasised that this data is also underpinned by the fact that retail sales have been expanding continuously for the last two years.

According to the Central Statistical Office’s (KSH) initial estimate, the volume of retail sales saw a year-on-year rise of 7.2%, following an increase of 4.4% last month. The data adjusted for calendar effects shows a growth rate of 6.2%, following 5.4% in May. Thus retail sales in Hungary have been uninterruptedly on the rise since 2013.

Mr. Glattfelder pointed out that in June Hungary was one of the EU Member States recording the most favourable retail sales figures, which shows that the Hungarian reforms are working. The reasons for increasing retail sales are the gradual expansion of employment and a dynamic increase in real wages. He added that people tend to spend more money when they are more optimistic and have faith in the future.

According to the Minister of State, this trend has also been promoted by the conversion of foreign exchange loans to forints and by an unprecedentedly low inflation rate.

Mr. Glattfelder also pointed out that since the introduction on 15 March this year of a law restricting Sunday trading, retail sales have increased by over 14%. In other words, concerns that retail sales would decrease have proved to be unjustified. He added that demand has shifted from Sunday to the other days of the week, which means that consumers have become used to this and have been able to adjust, thus enabling an uninterrupted increase in sales figures.

(Ministry for National Economy)