Eurostat also published in recent days the data relating to retailing for November 2005 both for the countries that have adopted the single currency and for the 25 EU member states as a whole. The report underlines the considerable increase in the annual volume of retailing sales, equivalent to 0.3% in the Euro zone and 1.4% for the EU-25. Particularly high are the percentages for sales in the non-food sector (especially textiles, electrical household appliances and pharmaceuticals), in contrast to the persistence of crisis in the so-called food-drinks-tobacco sector, especially in the countries within the highest GDP. Strong growth in retailing was registered in Latvia (+20,6%), Lithuania (+17,7%) and Slovakia (+10,2%), while Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany with losses of respectively 4.1%, 2.9% and 0.6% – are the only States where sales declined over the last twelve months.
