Malta is posting very strong retail sales up to the month of April this year, according to the latest Eurostat statistics, with retail sales remaining strong in the first quarter of the year despite seasonality. Retail sales in Europe are also higher than last year when compared to the same month in April, but Malta’s figures are significantly stronger than the EU average.
According to Eurostat, Malta’s retail trade volume increased by 1.0% in April when compared with March. This contrasted with a decline of 0.4% in the Euro area and 0.5% in the EU.
Malta was one of only three EU member states for which data was available to register a monthly increase in retail trade in April. The strongest increase was recorded in Lithuania at 1.9%, followed by Malta at 1.0% and France at 0.3%.
On an annual basis, Malta’s retail sales were also significantly stronger than the European average. Retail trade volume in Malta increased by 5.3% in April when compared with the same month last year, while the Euro area increased by 1.0% and the EU by 0.9%.
Retail activity in Malta remained resilient throughout the first months of the year. Retail trade volume increased by 4.1% in January, surged by 13.0% in February, increased again by 2.5% in March, and rose by 5.3% in April when compared with the same months last year. Tourist figures in April for Malta also hit a new record.
Across the EU, the strongest annual increases in April were recorded in Lithuania at 8.9%, Bulgaria at 7.4% and Luxembourg at 6.6%. Malta followed closely behind with 5.3%, placing it among the strongest performers in the EU.
The weakest performance was recorded in Romania, where retail trade fell by 5.7% year-on-year. Belgium also registered a decline of 2.1%, while Austria fell by 0.6%.
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