Retail sales in Colombia increased 5.3 percent year-on-year in March 2019, easing from an upwardly revised 6.1 percent gain in the previous month and below market consensus of a 5.8 percent rise. In March, 14 out of 16 product segments recorded gains including food & non-alcoholic beverages (6.4 percent); electronic products and telecommunications for personal or domestic use (20 percent); vehicles & motorcycles (7 percent); home appliances & furnishings (11.8 percent); hardware, glass & paintings (11.2 percent); other goods for personal or domestic use (9.9 percent); cleaning products for domestic use (9.7 percent); footwear & leather products (11.3 percent); and personal care products, cosmetics & perfumery (2.6 percent). On a monthly basis, retail trade went up 10.8 percent, after a downwardly revised 4.6 percent decline in February. Considering the first quarter of the year, retail sales advanced 4.8 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Retail Sales YoY in Colombia averaged 5.11 percent from 2000 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 23.37 percent in April of 2011 and a record low of -7.59 percent in September of 2009.
Retail Sales YoY in Colombia is expected to be 4.40 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales YoY in Colombia to stand at 4.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Colombia Retail Sales YoY is projected to trend around 4.30 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.