Retail sales growth beats expectations

In January retail sales in Poland grew by 4.8 percent year-on-year, according to data published by statistics office GUS on Monday. In month-on-month terms there was a 21.3 percent decline. In real terms, retail sales grew by 5 percent y/y, GUS also said. This figure involves price differences. Economists surveyed by the Polish Press Agency had expected retail sales to grow by 4.3 percent y/y and decline by 21.9 percent m/m. “The data shows that consumption demand is gaining momentum, however there is still hardly any evidence of rising inflationary pressure,” BZ WBK economists wrote in an e-mailed comment. In their opinion, the real growth figure shows that prices in retail are lower than a year ago.