Prague - Czechs appear to be less keen on consuming these days.

In July, seasonally adjusted sales in retail trade fell by 0.6 percent month-on-month at constant prices. The year-on-year increase was 1.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted increase 3.4 percent.

Seasonally adjusted sales in retail trade at constant prices decreased by 0.6% month-on-month.

These are the latest data released by the Czech Statistical Office Tuesday.

Read more: Consumer prices increase reaches 7 percent

Shopping abroad

"Not even the three more weekdays did not make the retailers' sales above 4 percent, as expected. The consumption has been stagnating. Households are scrupulous with their finances. Also, they are taking advantage of strong crown and shop abroad, benefiting from favorable exchange rates. The Czech National Bank may stay calm, interest rates are likely to be lowered to 3.25 percent before the year is over," Helena Horská from Raiffeisenbank said to Aktuálně.cz.

The sales in retail trade growth was influenced the most by selling of non-food goods and household utensils by special shops.

Read more: Foreign trade is on the rise again

In the automotive segment, seasonally adjusted sales at constant prices decreased by 3.9% month-on-month and by 2.2% year-on-year, as reported at the ČSÚ web site.

In June, though, the sales grew by 0.4 percent. However, the growth rate dropped from 2.5 percent in May to 1.4 percent.

The growth of the sales in June was caused mostly by selling of household utilities. The sales in trade in the automotive segment by 1.7 percent compared to previous months and 2.9 percent in comparison with the last year's June.

Source: ČSÚ