Retail sales rose 2.2% on the month in July, above the EU’s average growth of 0.2%, EU’s statistics agency Eurostat said.
Among the member states for which data were available, total retail trade grew in ten, fell in nine and remained stable in Germany and Spain. The largest increases were observed in Portugal (+2.5%), Romania and Latvia (+1.8%), and the highest decreases in Malta (-3.4%), Finland (-1.9%) and Denmark (-1.7%).
In July compared with the same month of 2010, Romanian retail sales increased by 1%. Sales in the EU bloc nudged down 0.2%, the data showed.
Total retail trade rose in twelve EU states and decreased in nine. The largest decreases were observed in Malta (-8.9%), Portugal (-5.3%) and Denmark (-5.1%), and the highest increases in Luxembourg (+8.3%), Lithuania (+7.8%) and Latvia (+6.4%).
According to local statistics data released earlier Monday, Romanian adjusted retail sales increased 2.2% in July compared with a month earlier and were up 0.1% on the year.