Sales of food, beverages and tobacco grew 1.1% on the month in March, while sales of non-food items declined 1.7%, and fuel sales declined 0.7%.
Compared with March 2015, adjusted retail sales were 18.5% higher in March 2016, as food, beverages and tobacco sales grew 26%, non-food sales grew 15.5%, and fuel sales grew 12.7%.
In the first quarter, Romanian adjusted retail sales grew 16.9% compared with the first quarter of 2015, the data showed. Sales of food, beverages and tobacco grew 26.2%, non-food sales grew 14.3%, and fuel sales grew 9.3%.
In unadjusted data, retail sales were 19.3% higher in March compared with March 2015, while first quarter retail sales were 19% higher on the year.