Retail sales in Slovakia grew 0.8% year-on-year in January 2025, a sharp slowdown from 10.1% in December and the weakest growth since August 2024, due to broad declines across subsectors.
Sales fell for food, beverages, and tobacco (-9.1% vs. +34.6% in December), automotive fuel (-4.3% vs. -15.9%), ICT (-1.8% vs. +29%), household equipment (-8.7% vs. +22.1%), and cultural and recreation goods (-5.9% vs. -1.1%).
Trade also went down for retail via stalls and markets (-8.4% vs 12.1%), and those not in stores, stalls or markets (-2.3% vs 42.3%).
These declines were partially offset by continued growth in non-specialized stores (3.3% vs. 6.6%) and other specialized goods (7.2% vs. 5.7%).
On a monthly basis, retail trade plunged 9%, the sharpest drop since January 2021, following an 8.2% surge in December.