Preliminary data for October indicate that the volume of retail sales growth slowed slightly in October to 6.2% over October 2007, after growth of 8.2% in September.
The most notable change was in furniture, household, electrical and hardware items, which saw a fall of 1.2% compared with October 2007, after a year-on-year rise of 6% in September.
Cypriot consumers therefore appear to be cutting back on the big ticket items.
There was also a slowdown in the more general categories. For example, sales at non-specialised stores selling food, beverages and tobacco slowed to growth of 3.9% in October, compared with 5% in September.
There was also a slowdown in “other non-specialised store sales,” which slowed to growth of 8.9% in October compared with 15.6% in September.
Preliminary data for the first ten months of the year show that the total volume of sales rose by 9.1% year on year, while the total value of sales rose by 13.9%.
December 09, 2009 – www.financialmirror.com
