Gandul
Eurostat data showed Slovenia posted the highest growth in retail trade in February, of 16.8%, followed by Luxembourg with 12.9%, Lithuania (7.6%) and Romania (7.5%). The biggest declines in retail trade were registered in Belgium (-3.2%), Malta (-0.9%) and Denmark (-0.2%).
EU-wide, retail trade rose 2.2% on the year in February, due to rises for automotive fuel, the non-food sector and the food, drinks and tobacco sector. Growth stood at 1.8% on the year in the euro area.
Compared to January 2017, the highest increases in the total retail trade volume were registered in Portugal (3.1%), Croatia (2.8%) and Slovenia (2.3%), while the largest decreases were observed in Malta (-0.8%), Latvia (-0.7%) and Belgium (-0.6%).