IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown regulations since 27 March 2020 have had an extensive impact on economic activity. Measured in real terms (constant 2015 prices), retail trade sales decreased by 7,5% year-on-year in June 2020. The largest negative annual growth rates were recorded for:

·            all ‘other’ retailers (-46,3%);

·            retailers in food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (-11,0%); and

·            retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (-7,6%).

The main contributors to the 7,5% decrease were:

·            all ‘other’ retailers (contributing -5,8 percentage points); and

·            retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (contributing -1,3 percentage points).

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 6,4% in June 2020 compared with May 2020. This followed month-on-month changes of 68,7% in May 2020 and -49,0% in April 2020. In the second quarter of 2020, seasonally adjusted retail trade sales decreased by 23,5% compared with the first quarter of 2020.

Retail trade sales decreased by 22,8% in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the second quarter of 2019. The main contributors to this decrease were:

·            all ‘other’ retailers (-63,7% and contributing -7,8 percentage points); and

·           retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (-33,5% and contributing -6,0 percentage points).