Drop in shop sales in Hungary as big as at the beginning of the pandemic

According to the latest data released by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office in March, shop sales in Hungary fell sharply, with 13.1 percent fewer purchases than a year earlier. Only the beginning of the COVID pandemic was worse than this with lockdowns and closures affecting the whole country.

However, this does not mean that we spent so much left, but that we bought so much less than this time last year. Inflation is so high in Hungary that we still left 10.1 percent more money in the till, hvg.hu reports.

The sharpest drop was in petrol station sales: down 29.3 percent. It is worth remembering that last March, not only did the HUF 480 fuel price push up sales, but there was also some panic buying. In non-food shops, sales fell by 9.6 percent.

The KSH recorded an increase of 11 percent in second-hand goods shops – when this group of shops sees an increase in sales, it is a clear sign of the crisis – and stagnation in drug stores.

Sales of furniture and technical goods fell by 21 percent, industrial goods by 12 percent, clothing and footwear by 5 percent and computer products by 3.4 percent.

Mail order and online sales fell by 14 percent.