Adjusted for seasonality and number of working days, the January-July growth stood at 11% and the July growth at 8.1%.
Compared with June 2021, retail sales were 6.1% higher in unadjusted data and 0.1% higher when adjusted for seasonality and number of working days in July.
Annual growth in the first seven months was driven by non-food products (growth of 19.3%), fuel sales (12.9%), while sales of food, beverages and tobacco only rose by 5.2%.
Adjusted for seasonality and number of working days, the sales of non-food products were 18.7% higher, retail sales of automotive fuel in specialized stores rose by 11.6% and sales of food, beverages and tobacco increased by 3.5%.
Growth in July on the year-ago month was driven by the increase in non-food sales (9.4%), in sales of food, beverages and tobacco (6.9%) and retail sales of automotive fuel in specialized stores (5.3%).
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)