Analysts Expect Retail Revenues to Return to Negative Territory in Summer

Bratislava, 4 June (TASR) - Low consumer confidence raises questions about the sustainability of the recovery seen in retail revenues during the spring, said UniCredit Bank analyst Lubomir Korsnak in his commentary on retail revenue data for April published by the Statistics Office on Thursday, expecting a return to negative territory as early as this summer. "Combined with the ongoing fiscal consolidation affecting net household incomes, as well as a downturn expected again in the labour market (following a surprising and likely temporary improvement between February and April), we anticipate that the surprising growth in revenues in the spring will not last long," stated Korsnak. Analysts from the Financial Policy Institute (IFP) warned that retail revenues in April failed to follow up on the strong results from March. The largest negative contribution came from supermarkets, which saw a drop of as much as 7.3 percent year-on-year, while retail was also dampened by e-shops, whose revenues fell by 9.2 percent y-o-y. Conversely, a positive contribution came from other specialised stores (up by 7 percent), hobby stores and electronics stores (up 11.9 percent) and petrol stations (up 5.8 percent). The Statistics Office reported on Thursday that retail revenues in Slovakia fell only slightly by 0.2 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in April 2026 when adjusted for inflation, with four out of nine retail segments posting y-o-y declines. jrg/df