ZAGREB, 30 Dec 2021 - Retail sales in Croatia rose for the tenth month in a row in November, indicating a further recovery of consumption and the economy from the coronavirus crisis, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Thursday.

Retail sales fell by 2.0% from October 2021 and increased by 5.2% compared with November 2020, which is slower growth than in October 2021 when consumption had jumped by 9.2% year on year.

"This confirms a slowdown in the pace of growth partly due to the base period effect and partly due to the renewed rise in uncertainty, which is having an adverse effect on consumer sentiment and expectations," analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comment on the DZS report.

This is the tenth month in a row that consumption has been increasing on an annual level after it was falling for 11 straight months under the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

In the year to November 2021, retail sales rose by 12.4% compared with the same period in 2020. In the whole of 2020, the volume of retail trade contracted by 5.5%.

The continued strong rise in consumption indicates a further recovery of the economy from the coronavirus crisis.

In the third quarter of 2021, GDP jumped by 15.8% year on year, following a record rise of 16.5% in the second quarter. The latest macroeconomic indicators suggest that growth has continued in the fourth quarter as well.

"Data for December will confirm the continuation of positive annual trends backed by relatively favorable labor market trends, moderate epidemiological measures, and expectations that wages will continue to grow in 2022," RBA said, estimating that the volume of retail trade in the whole of 2021 will have risen by around 12%.

For more, check out our business section.

May 21, 2021 – Interesting research suggests most Zagreb and Split citizens support the initiative to ban working on Sundays.

We have already reported on the Croatian government's initiative to ban retail stores from working most Sundays. It is an unusual idea in a time when businesses are getting more and more flexible with working hours. The initiative has been endorsed by the Catholic Church since the beginning. It promotes the idea of people being allowed to enjoy Sundays with their families or attend mass service if they are religious. How this type of decision would affect the tourism destinations is another issue altogether.

Results of the Poll

The opinion poll was done in the run-up to the last week’s elections. As reported by N1, which organised the research poll, 65,3% of Zagreb voters and 74% of Split voters support the initiative to ban working on Sundays. MASMI agency conducted the poll on a sample of 1300 people. There were eight reasons to choose from for those in support of the ban. The right to have a day off during the week ranked as the most popular reason in both cities. In Split, 43,2% of people in support of the ban chose this option. In Zagreb, that percentage was 45,5.

Seeing how this poll was tied to the election poll, it is interesting to note the differences in political affiliations and choices made. Most right-leaning voters see Sunday as a day for the family. Left-leaning voters see it more as a day of relaxation and rest for the workers. Protection of worker rights is an important reason for SDP’s (Social Democratic Party) voters. 31,8% of them support the ban for this reason in Split. 18,5% of all those who voted positively to the poll question in Split and 15,8% in Zagreb feel this decision would help protect the rights of the workers. In other words, they don’t feel these rights are being protected or respected at the moment. This might be the most interesting and worrying statistic in the entire research.

It is also interesting to note how religious reasons didn’t rank high, scoring only 3,9% in Zagreb and 1,4% in Split. Religious voters believed the church service can be attended in times outside of the person’s working hours.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 12 April, 2021 - The volume of retail trade in the EU rose in February 2021 the most in Belgium, Austria and Croatia, while on average Europeans shopped less, shows a Eurostat report released on Monday.

In February 2021, the volume of retail trade in the EU dropped by 2.2% compared to February 2020. In January it was down 4.5%.

The euro area, too, saw a year-on-year drop in the volume of retail trade of 2.9%, after a 5.2% drop in January.

In both the EU and the euro area the volume of retail trade dropped the most for automotive fuels, by 11.9% and 13% respectively.

The volume of retail trade for non-food products dropped significantly as well, by 4% in the EU and by 5.5% in the euro area, the exception being the volume of trade for mail and internet orders, which jumped by 37.9% in the EU and by 37.3% in the euro area.

In February Europeans bought more only food, drinks and tobacco products, as evidenced by a year-on-year increase of the volume of retail trade of 1.8% in the EU and 1.9% in the euro area.

Belgium, Austria, Croatia report highest increases

Among the countries whose statistics were available to Eurostat, Portugal saw the biggest year-on-year drop in the volume of retail trade, of 15.4%.

It was followed by Slovakia and Malta with declines of 14.7% and 8.9% respectively.

The biggest year-on-year increase in the volume of retail trade was reported by Belgium, of 11%, followed by Austria, with an increase of 5.2% and Croatia, an increase of 5.1%.

In January 2021 Croatia saw a year-on-year 0.9% increase in the volume of retail trade.

Signs of recovery

The seasonally-adjusted volume of retail trade in the EU grew in February by 2.9% compared to January, when it dropped by 4.6%.

In the euro area it went up by 3% from January, when it dropped by 5.2%.

The volume of retail trade for non-food products grew the most in both the EU and the euro area, by 6.2% and 6.8% respectively, after it went down at the start of the year.

The volume of retail trade for automotive fuels recovered as well, by 2.4% in the EU and 3.7% in the euro area.

The volume of retail trade dropped on the month only for food and tobacco products and drinks, by 0.8% in the EU and 1.1% in the euro area.

Among the countries whose statistics were available to Eurostat, the biggest monthly increase in the volume of retail trade was reported by Austria, of 28.2%.

It was followed by Slovenia and Italy, with a 16.4% and an 8.4% increase in the volume of retail trade.

In Croatia the volume of retail trade in February grew 4.4% from January, when it rose by 3.4%.

Monthly drops in the volume of retail trade were reported by Malta (-1.5%), France (-1.2%), Hungary (-1.2%), Portugal (-0.7) and Finland (-0.4).

To read more news from Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 29 January, 2021 -  Retail sales in Croatia in December 2020 fell by 3.2% compared to December 2019, falling for the tenth month in a row and even faster than in November, the State Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Friday.

According to seasonally adjusted data, consumption in December contracted by 0.8% compared to November and by 3.2% compared to December 2019.

Impacted by the coronavirus crisis, it was the tenth month in a row that retail sales had declined, after registering a contraction of 0.7% in November.

Retail sales of non-food products in December, excluding motor oils and lubricants, fell by 5.5% on the year, while sales of food, beverages and tobacco products increased by 4.7%.

Retail trade for the entire year fell by 5.8% in real terms.

Recession continues

The continued contraction in retail sales in December was due to weak personal consumption in the current coronavirus crisis.

The drop in consumption is one of the leading causes of recession as personal consumption is the largest component of gross domestic product (GDP).

Year on year, GDP plunged by a record 15.4% in Q2 2020 and by 10% in Q3 2020.

Restrictive measures imposed at the end of November to contain the second wave of the coronavirus infection had a negative impact on the economy in Q4 too, with the recession continuing in that quarter as well.

Get your wallets and credit cards ready as something new opens its doors Sesvete near the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, breathing life into an old building and potentially the local economy, too.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of April, 2019, the brand new Five Star Outlet has officially opened its doors in the place of the former Europatrade building and has a great many leading international brands in its rich assortment.

Otherwise, Sesvete's new Five Star Outlet is the very first cosmetics outlet in the Republic of Croatia, covering 1200 square metres of space in total.

Customers from Sesvete and beyond will now be able to purchase products designed for all generations and all kinds of needs in just one place, and the assortment of offered items for sale in the new centre will be constantly changing and being updated so that all the necessary supplies can be obtained at the lowest possible price at any given time without any deteriorated quality in any of the available segments.

Sesvete's new shopping outlet will be the new home to very many hugely popular leading international brands such as Loreal, Nivea, Max Factor, Vileda, Make Up Revolution and Rossman, a high quality and extremely popular German brand that will be found for the first time on the shelves of some Croatian stores.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for much more. If it's just Zagreb and the surrounding area you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow or check out Zagreb in a Page.