Retail trade volumes have increased in the first quarter of this year mainly due to the higher number of foreign visitors to Albania for tourism.

Albania's retail sales increased by a real 4.9% year-on-year in the first quarter, almost unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2023, the country's statistical office, INSTAT, said on Thursday.

On a quarterly comparison basis, retail sales increased by 1.7% in the January-March period, higher than the 1.1% quarterly growth rate in the October-December quarter of 2023, INSTAT said in a quarterly report.

On the other hand, INSTAT data refer to the annual change in the index of sales volume in retail trade excluding hydrocarbon retail trade in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 6.0%, compared to the first quarter of 2023.

In the group "Food, beverages, tobacco in non-specialized and specialized commercial units", the sales volume has increased by 5.3%, compared to the same quarter of 2023.

In the first quarter of 2024, the seasonally adjusted sales volume in the group "Retail trade, excluding retail trade of hydrocarbons in specialized trade units", has increased by 1.9%, compared to the previous quarter.

In the group "Food, beverages, tobacco in non-specialized and specialized commercial units", the sales volume, seasonally adjusted, has decreased by 0.9% compared to the previous quarter. The volume of sales, seasonally adjusted, in retail trade, for the group "Non-food items in specialized and non-specialized trade units", has increased by 3.1%, compared to the previous quarter.