Romania ranks first in EU on retail segment growth

Romania ranked first in the European Union in July as far as the retail growth is concerned, with sales up by 18.4 percent compared to July 2007. Romania also ranked first in June.

According to local analysts, the local retail is advancing due to clothing and food sales. "The first engine for retail is the increase of purchasing power, while the second is that people are giving away traditional markets and go to hypermarkets and malls, which also impacts on the [gross domestic product] GDP," says financial analyst Emil Stoica. 

The President of Romanian Businesspeople Association, Florin Pogonaru, said other segments, such as services, should also increase. "We need an increase on the services segment, to bring Romania closer to normality," said Pogoranu.

Business Standard