Ukraine’s retail sales in real terms increased 6.1% year-on-year in January-May, decelerating from 7% y/y growth in January-April (vs a 7.1% y/y growth in January-May 2017), the nation's state statistics service Ukrstat reported on June 20.
Regionally, the highest growth occurred in the Ukraine-controlled Luhansk (24.6% y/y growth), Poltava (10.2% y/y) and Vinnytsia (9.8% y/y) regions, while growth was slowest in Chernivtsi (0.9% y/y), Kharkiv (2.2% y/y) and Kirovohrad (2.5% y/y).
Evgeniya Akhtyrko at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital believes that retail sales to pick up amid expected disinflation during the summer months. "We expect real retail sales to grow 7%-8% y/y in 2018," she added in a note on June 21.