Retail sales in the Czech Republic fell by 5.6 percent in September after a revised 8.1 percent decline in August. They declined for the fifth consecutive month. Only pharmacies grew. Month-on-month, however, sales rose 0.8 percent. This was announced on Tuesday by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO).

“Year-on-year retail sales fell for the fifth month in September. Compared to the previous month, the decline eased in food, non-food goods, and fuel sales. Fewer goods than last year were sold in all store types except pharmaceutical and healthcare stores. These have been growing continuously for eighteen months,” said Jana Gotvaldová, head of the CSO’s statistics department for trade, transport, and services, commenting on the September data.

Sales of non-food goods fell by 5.8 percent year-on-year, food by 5.3 percent, and fuel by 6.1 percent.

According to the CSO, Internet and mail-order, shops saw their sales decrease by 3.6 percent.

“Due to the sharp increase in prices, consumption is being curtailed, hurting retailers’ sales. People are focusing even more on special offers and often prefer to buy the cheapest variants of the products on offer,” said BHS chief economist Štěpán Křeček, who believes that the economy’s growth can be expected to slow down further and we may even see a recession.

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