In contemp of descending real wages, the hungarian buy

By: trademagazin Date: 2007. 05. 25. 00:00

While real wages dropped by 6.5% year on year in March, the volume of Hungary's retail sales fell by only 0.5% in the same month, according to preliminary calendar effect-adjusted data published by the Central Statistics Office (KSH).

Following a respective 0.1% and 0.4% m/m decline in February
and January, retail sales have not changed in March from the previous month,
which signals that at a brutal plunge of real wages the decrease of retail
sales volume has stopped. This indicates an aggressive consumption smoothing
(consumption firmer than real wage growth), which may be interpreted as a
further decline of propensity to save. The central bank's first-quarter
government securities statistics have also pointed this out earlier this week.