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4.5.3 Retail sector dynamics
Ukrainian retail sales increased 13.8% year on year in 1H21, slowing from 14.3% y/y growth in 5M21, Ukraine’s State Statistics Service reported on July 20. In June, real retail sales inched up 0.1% month on month and 13.0% y/y.
The highest growth of retail sales in 1H21 occurred in Chernivtsi (30.8% y/y), Ternopil (29.4% y/y) and Zakarpattia (26.7% y/y) regions. The slowest growth rates were in Kharkiv (2.6% y/y), Kirovohrad (8.2% y/y) and Ukraine-controlled Donetsk (9.4% y/y) regions.
“The growth rate of retail sales [has] declined as the effect of the low comparative base in the previous year wears off. Nevertheless, the retail growth remains impressive. It is prompted by the fast growth of wages and constrained alternative consumption (i.e. travelling). We expect consumer demand to stay strong in 2021, allowing retail sales to accelerate to 10% y/y (vs. 7.6% y/y growth in 2020),” an analyst at the Kyiv-based Concorde Capital brokerage said in a research note.
23 UKRAINE Country Report August 2021 www.intellinews.com