Romania’s retail sales post third consecutive quarterly decline in Q1

Romania’s retail sales, hit by the VAT rate hike in August 2025 and shrinking once again in the first two months of 2026, have partly recovered in March when the sales volume index edged up by 2.6% m/m while the annual dynamics (-2.3% y/y) remained in the negative area for the eighth consecutive month, according to data published by the statistics office INS.

For the whole first three months of the year (Q1), the retail sales volume index edged down by 1.6% q/q, marking the third consecutive contraction, while the annual dynamics reached -5.8% y/y – the sharpest drop since the first Covid pandemic lockdown.