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Final population consumption normalized in the third quarter of 2021 standing at the average of the last two years before the crisis (2018-2019).
According to INSTAT data, the final consumption of the population in the third quarter of the year increased by 3.33% compared to the same period of 2020, where consumption had decreased by -3.3% as a result of the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other INSTAT data obtained from the retail trade show that the growth of consumption in this quarter was driven by expenditures on pharmaceutical products.
After pharmaceutical products, the highest sales growth results in industrial items in specialized commercial units, which represent mainly construction materials. Sales in these products increased by 16% compared to the third quarter of 2019, while compared to 2020 they increased by only 0.8%.
The third group with the highest sales growth were furniture and household appliances. In the third quarter 2021 sales in these items increased by 11.2 percent compared to the pre-crisis period and by 2.3 percent compared to the same period in 2020.
In relation to the pre-crisis, there was a decrease in sales only in computer products by about 2%. This decline came after the oversupply of the market by large sales during the quarantine period in the second quarter of 2020.
Retail trade was significantly affected by pandemic developments which reoriented consumption to certain items, mainly food, pharmaceuticals. The quarantine period and stay at home significantly encouraged reconstructions and the purchase of household appliances.
With the lifting of restrictive measures sales returned to normal for all products, but for pharmaceutical products the demand remained high as the pandemic spread continues.
In recent years, the final consumption of the population is being negatively affected by the demographic factor. Every year thousands of people emigrate from the country, whose lack is immediately reflected in trade and consumption. Year after year hundreds of retail units in the counties of the country close due to dwindling population.
The decline in consumption most endangers businesses in the trade sector. This sector has been shrinking in recent years. Over the decade the share of trade in Gross Domestic Product has fallen by 1 percentage point.
Over the last year the consumption of the population has changed behavior adapting to the situation. During the pandemic period, purchases were honored for food, health services and medicines and technological equipment that provided work and distance communication.
In the last three decades, consumption has been the engine of economic growth in the country. The transition from a centralized closed-loop economy to a market economy shifted the country’s economic model from production to consumption. Consumption is fed in addition to internal sources from remittances./ Monitor
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