Decline in Retail Sales despite Rise in Consumer Expenditures

Despite a favourable development of consumer demand, sales in retail trade declined in the first half of 1993. About one third of this discrepancy is due to the differences in weight of consumer durables in the two aggregates; the remainder is due to weight differences with regard to services and differences between expenditures by Austrians abroad and by foreigners in Austria. The wholesale business was dampened by the slack in manufacturing production as well as in exports and imports. There are indications that the Christmas business of the retail sector is going well.