Food sales down in February for second month in a row

The retail sales in Romania increased by 3.4% in February compared to February 2021 (YoY) and by 0.4% compared to January 2022 (month-on-month, seasonally adjusted), the statistics office INS announced.

The food sales, typically less elastic to prices or households' real incomes, decreased for the second month in a row (in seasonally-adjusted terms) - indicating pressures of high magnitude exerted by both these factors on households' purchasing power.

The average net wage edged up by 0.5% YoY in January (latest data available), but the annual growth rate has dwindled in the negative area in September-December.

The extreme income disparity in Romania means that the low-income households were more vulnerable to the rise in prices.

The food prices increased by 8.8% YoY in February, and it is plausible that the low wage-earners were less instrumental in negotiating higher nominal incomes.

The non-food sales increased in January-February (seasonally adjusted terms) despite the average prices for such goods rising by 9.3% YoY as of February.

The non-food prices were pushed up by energy prices - a fact that couldn't be avoided by households by decreasing their purchases.

(Photo: David Izquierdo/ Dreamstime)