Retail sales in Lithuania rose 3.7 percent year-on-year in December of 2018, easing from an upwardly revised 7.2 percent gain in the previous month. It was the lowest annual growth in retail sales since February, as sales slowed for food products (2.2 percent from 4.3 percent in November); non-food products (5.2 percent from 8.3 percent), and automotive fuel (3.4 percent from 10.4 percent). Within non-food products, sales went up at a softer pace for audio, video, hardware, furniture & lighting (6.7 percent from 9.6 percent); via mail order houses or via internet (14.8 percent from 18.2 percent), and textiles clothing & footwear (9.2 percent from 11.8 percent) while sales of information & communication equipment tumbled (-12.3 percent from 0.3 percent). On the other hand, sales increased faster for dispensing chemist, medical & orthopedic goods (7.9 percent from 4.8 percent). On a monthly basis, retail trade jumped 15.6 percent, after a downwardly revised 4 percent fall in November. Retail Sales YoY in Lithuania averaged 4.94 percent from 1998 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 20 percent in May of 2007 and a record low of -26.30 percent in November of 2009.
Retail Sales YoY in Lithuania is expected to be 5.50 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales YoY in Lithuania to stand at 4.40 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Lithuania Retail Sales YoY is projected to trend around 4.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.