Palma.A report by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) released yesterday showed that the Balearics was one of the regions of Spain least affected by a downturn in sales last month.
Only Extremadura with a year-on-year drop in income for the retail trade of 8.3% and the Canary Islands of 8.7% were affected less than the Balearics. The figures compare with the national average decline in commerce of 11.3 percent last month compared to April of 2011.
The INE report said that realigning the sales figures with constant prices which do not take into account the effect of inflation or seasonal trade, commerce in Spain fell by 9.8 percent last month compared to April in 2011, the biggest drop since historic comparative records began in 2003.
Meanwhile, the INE said that across the country as a whole, retail trade has declined by 5.9 percent during the first four months of the year in comparison with the same period in 2011. The Balearics, said the Institute, was the region which has registered the least downturn in business over the first four months of this year in comparison with 2011, just 3.3 percent.
All retail trade outlets experienced a year-on-year downturn in trade last month. Large chain stores suffered the least decline of 8.1 percent whilst one-off shop sales were down 10.3%, small commercial chains by 12.5% and department stores by 16.9%.
Spending on personal goods shrunk by over 20%, for the home by 15.1% and on food by 6.7%.
Employment in the retail sector fell by 1.2% last month in comparison with April 2011 due to all outlets wanting to save on staff costs except large chain stores where jobs were up 0.4%.
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