Polish retail sales grow less than expected as shoppers stay cautious
Sept 23 (Reuters) -Polish retail sales grew more slowly than expected in August, statistics office data showed on Monday, with car sales in particular disappointing as consumers held back on big ticket purchases.
Retail sales PLRSCO=ECI grew 2.6% year on year in constant prices in August, below the 3.4% forecast in a Reuters poll.
Although consumer confidence has been gradually returning in central Europe as an inflation shock related to the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic fades, many people in Poland remain cautious about spending.
"It's really a softer reading than expected, a substantial slowdown was visible especially in the sales of cars ...but generally the softness is broad-based in the sales of goods is broad based in August," said Adam Antoniak, senior economist at ING in Poland.
Poland is betting on a wage growth-driven consumer revival to underpin its economic recovery in 2024, with the country's finance minister saying that 3.1% year-on-year growth could safely be expected.
"We think that the growth of consumption in the second half of the year will probably slow as a result of a less robust increase in real wages," Antoniak said, adding that downside risks to GDP growth forecasts may have increased.
Inflation is set to rise in the second half of the year in Poland amid higher energy costs, hitting consumers' spending power.
The Polish reading came after data showed this month that Czech retail sales continued to recover, rising for an eighth straight month.
In Hungary, calendar-adjusted retail sales rose by an annual 2.5% in July following a 2.6% rise in June.
Reporting by Anna Banacka and Mateusz Rabiega in Gdansk, Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, editing by Ed Osmond
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