Consumption slows down, Albanians are more cautious with purchases

Albanians have become increasingly cautious with the purchases that they have recently made, not spending money like they used to do before. This is also shown by official data. According to these data, consumption has seen a slowdown by registering a modest growth, instead of an accelerated one. But, this becomes even more evident by the fact that purchase of groceries has fallen compared to non-food products or fuel.

“The main group which has pushed the growth of retail sales is the one of non-food products, where sales in this group were up by 1,4%; food, beverages and tobacco were up by 0,7%”, experts of statistics explain.  Meanwhile, they further add that in the second quarter of 2017, the index of the trade volume of retail sales has increased by 1,6% over the same period last year. Meanwhile, if compared to the previous quarter of 2017, this index  has increased by 1,4%. Both of these figures reflect modest rates of consumption growth, in particular, given the fact that we are referring to a period when the country was getting ready to hold the June 25 elections. A new government came out of these elections, a government which took office yesterday through a special ceremony at the President’s office. So, this climate has made consumers more cautious when it comes to spending. Another factor that contributed to this slowdown in consumption was also the political crisis that the country went through during this period. In turn, this crisis made consumers more uncertain. This uncertainty seems to have has deterred Albanians to spend and consume more goods.