Romanians spend more after VAT rate cut on food, study shows

Romanian consumers have spent about three-quarters of the money saved after the VAT rate cut on food from 24% to 9%, on June 1 this year, according to a GfK study. The official statistics provided by the National Statistics Institute (INS) show that the retail trade turnover went up by 7% in the first ten months of this year as the growth rate accelerated from 4% in the first five months, after the VAT rate cut in June. Romania also registered a negative inflation rate for the first time in the past 26 years. Marker research company GfK went a bit further than that and tried to determine how the Romanian consumers used the money they saved from the VAT rate cut, which made food and soft drinks cheaper. The study shows that consumers used some 76% of the money difference to buy more goods and allotted only 24% of the money for other expenses or for savings. Some 59% of the savings were used to buy more food and soft drinks, and 17% went on non-food items such as personal care and home care products. GfK analyzed the purchases made by 3,000 households in Romania between June and September. editor@romania-insider.com