Retail sales volume grows in March
Greek retail sales by volume rose 1.2 percent in March compared to the same month a year earlier, despite the uncertainty over a reforms deal with the country’s EU/IMF lenders, statistics service ELSTAT said on Friday.
Sales volumes had risen for five months in a row through October on a pick up in consumer spending as the economy recovered from a protracted recession. But a turbulent political climate towards the end of last year hit consumer sentiment.
Hit by the country’s economic slump and record unemployment, retail sales declined by about 40 percent in 2009-2013, hit by austerity policies imposed under the terms of Greece’s 240-billion-euro EU/IMF bailout.
[Reuters]
