The retail trade sector of the A.C. of the Basque Country saw a 6.1% increase in nominal sales in the first quarter de 2006 with regard to the same period of last year, according to Eustat data. This nominal growth, discounting the effect of prices, came out as similarly positive inter-annual evolution of 5.6% in real terms.

Traditional (specialist) retail trade saw a 7.6% increase in nominal sales in the first quarter of 2006, with regard to the same period of 2005. This nominal increase turned into a 7.0% growth rate in real terms.

Retail trade in medium and large-sized stores (non-specialist) in the first quarter of the year grew by 3.2% in nominal terms. The variation of the real inter-annual rate was 2.6% in relation to the same quarter of 2005.

The highest inter-annual growth rate for specialist retail trade corresponded to Personal equipment, registering 14.3% nominal growth, which in real terms came to 13.5%. For Household equipment goods, growth was much more modest, coming to 1.5% in nominal terms, which translated as a similarly positive rate of 0.3% in real terms. Sales of Foodstuffs grew by 1.8% in current euros, but presented a 1.8% decrease in real terms. Elsewhere, under the heading of Other Consumer Goods (sports, toy, and bookshops and opticians, among others) there was 5.8% nominal growth, which, due to the deflationary effect of prices, came to 6.8%, in real terms.

By province, the highest growth of nominal retail sector sales in the first quarter of 2006 took place in Álava, with a 12.7% inter-annual increase, having seen a 14.7% rise in specialist retail trade sales and a 9% increase for the non-specialist sector.

The province of Bizkaia saw an intermediate level of growth, with 6,4%, where specialist trade sales obtained 6.8% growth and non-specialist trade 5.5%.

The province with the smallest inter-annual growth in retail trade sales was Gipuzkoa (2.8%), reporting a 6.1% increase for specialist retail trade and a 3.6% decrease for non-specialist trade, in each case in nominal terms of inter-annual variation.

There was growth in employment in the retail trade sector, compared to the average for the first quarter of last year, 1.4% with the following break-down by province: in Bizkaia it grew by 2.9%, in Gipuzkoa by 0.4% and in Álava it diminished by 1.9%. However, the number personnel employed in the retail trade sector in the first quarter of 2006 decreased by 2.4% in relation to the previous quarter for the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole; this negative inter-quarterly evolution was seen across all three provinces.