Sales in the retail trade grew 3.7%, y-o-y, in August. Sales in transport increased 4.6% y-o-y. Sales in communication grew 14.5%, of which telecommunications accounted for 15.0%. Hotels and restaurants sales continued in downward trend and fell by 2.0%. Sales in other business activities dropped by 1.9%. The long-term downward trend in other service activities (mostly of personal nature) also continued (-4.4%).
The declining pace of retail sales growth can be partly explained by the figure from August 2000 that established a high level for comparison with the current figure. The same effect we could also observe in industrial output and construction. However, retail sales figures suggest that an acceleration of the domestic demand still did not arrive. Thus the expectation of interest rates hikes should be diminished again.
(David Marek)