Malta seeing substantial decline in retail trade - PN

Malta registered the fourth worst result in retail trade amongst EU countries in December 2016. While retail sales across the EU increased by 2.3%, retail sales in Malta shrunk by 0.7%. Eighteen countries out of the 22 Member States that submitting their data fared better than Malta, the Nationalist Party said today. Shadow finance minister Mario de Marco and Robert Arrigo, spokesman on small business said a closer look at the data points to an even worse situation. With a 9.5% decrease, Malta registered the worst decrease in food sales. On the other hand, retail sales of fuel increased by staggering 17.2%. Were it not for this increase in the consumption of fuel, the overall decline of retail sales in December would have been much steeper. The picture painted by these statistics tallied with the survey data published by the GRTU earlier last month. According to the GRTU data, over 65% of retailers reported that sales during the Christmas period remained at par or decreased by up to 30% when compared to sales in the corresponding period of the previous year. "The situation in shopping districts outside the main tourism zones is more worrying. While the positive touristic...