Latvia Retail Sales Rebound in December
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Latvia's retail sales rose by 1.1% year-on-year in December, following a downwardly revised 1.9% decline in the prior month, figures from the Riga-based Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) on Monday show. It marks the first increase in retail activity after nine consecutive months of declines, mainly boosted by sales of non-food (+2.9%) and food products (+1.2%).
Conversely, spending on automotive fuel fell by 4.4%. On a monthly basis, retail trade rose by only 0.1% in December, following an upwardly revised 1.2% increase in the prior month. According to data, in 2023 total retail trade shrank by 2.1% compared to the previous year.
In another release the statistics agency said that Latvia's economy contracted for the third straight quarter in the three months ending December. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell a non-adjusted 0.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, following a 0.7% decrease in the third quarter, preliminary data showed.
On a seasonally and calenda r-adjusted basis, GDP also fell 0.2% in the December quarter after remaining flat in the previous quarter.
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