Bulgaria Shows Third Highest Retail Sales Growth in EU

Bulgaria’s retail sales increased by 6.4% year-on-year in December 2014, one of the highest growth rates in EU-28, according to new data published on Wednesday.

The biggest increase in total retail trade volume was observed in Luxembourg (+9.2%), while Spain was second (+6.6%), statistical data by Eurostat showed. Decreases were observed in Finland (-2.6%), Slovenia (-2.5%) and Malta (-1.4%).

In the EU-28, the 3.2% increase in retail trade in December 2014 compared with the respective month of 2013 was due to rises of 4.0% for the non-food sector, 2.0% for automotive fuel and  1.8% for  food, drinks and tobacco.

Retail sales in Bulgaria rose by 0.9% month-on-month in December 2014, triple the 0.3% rate of increase in both EU-28 and the euro area (EA-18).