Retail sales fell by 2.0% from October 2021 and increased by 5.2% compared with November 2020, which is slower growth than in October 2021 when consumption had jumped by 9.2% year on year.
“This confirms a slowdown in the pace of growth partly due to the base period effect and partly due to the renewed rise in uncertainty, which is having an adverse effect on consumer sentiment and expectations,” analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comment on the DZS report.
This is the tenth month in a row that consumption has been increasing on an annual level after it was falling for 11 straight months under the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
In the year to November 2021, retail sales rose by 12.4% compared with the same period in 2020. In the whole of 2020, the volume of retail trade contracted by 5.5%.
The continued strong rise in consumption indicates a further recovery of the economy from the coronavirus crisis.
In the third quarter of 2021, GDP jumped by 15.8% year on year, following a record rise of 16.5% in the second quarter. The latest macroeconomic indicators suggest that growth has continued in the fourth quarter as well.
“Data for December will confirm the continuation of positive annual trends backed by relatively favorable labor market trends, moderate epidemiological measures, and expectations that wages will continue to grow in 2022,” RBA said, estimating that the volume of retail trade in the whole of 2021 will have risen by around 12%.
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