INS: The consumption of the population continues to slow down, and retail trade has decreased by more than 5%

The National Institute of Statistics (INS) announces that the volume of turnover in retail trade, excluding sales of vehicles and motorcycles, recorded an increase in May 2026 compared to the previous month. According to INS data, the advance was 1.2% in the gross series and 1.3% in the adjusted series based on the number of working days and seasonality.

In contrast, compared to May 2025, turnover decreased by 4.5%. In the first five months of 2026, the volume decreased by 5.5% compared to the same period in 2025. The increases in May 2026 were supported by sales of non-food products (+3.2%) and food products, beverages, and tobacco (+0.5%), while fuel trade decreased by 2.3%. Compared to May 2025, declines were evident in all categories, including fuel sales (-5.5%) and non-food products (-4.8%).