Sales in services and retail down almost 10% last year

Ljubljana – The Covid-19 lockdown that started in March last year and that has persisted in various forms had a significant impact on the volume of sales in the services sector and retail in 2020, as it was down by a combined 9.6% compared to the year before.

The drop in the services was 11.6% compared to 2019, while it was smaller, 6.2%, in retail, the Statistics Office reported on Friday.

The volume of sales decreased in all groups of the services sector, the most in hospitality (37.7%), followed by other miscellaneous activities (-24.7%), real estate agency (-12.9) and transport and warehousing (-8.8%).

In December 2020 alone, the volume of sales in the services sector and retail was down by a combined 1.7% compared to the month before despite some of the lockdown measures being relaxed. It was the third monthly decline in a row.

The drop was greater in the services sector (-1.6%) than in retail (-0.4%).

Year-on-year, sales in December dropped by a combined 12.1%, or by 12.8% in the services sector, and by 11% in retail, the Statistics Office said.

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