Romania's retail sales index increased by 4.6% y/y in September, driven by non-food sales that keep rising by double-digit rates.
The higher real wages, still moderate unemployment and affordable interest rates pushed up the retail sales by 3.8% y/y in the third quarter of the year after a 7.3% y/y contraction in Q2.
As of September, the seasonally and workday adjusted retail sales index was still 1.9% below the pre-crisis level reached in February.
However, non-food sales boasted double-digit growth in September (+11.6% y/y) and are already 4.3% above the pre-crisis level of February (in adjusted terms).
Food sales increased by only 2.7% y/y in September and lag by 2% compared to February.
Fuel sales have failed to recover so far as they were 4.2% smaller in September than in the same month last year. Compared to February, the decline was much steeper at 10.5%.