Retail trade is showing signs of slowing, according to a statement sent by Statistics on Monday. Sales of medicine, electronics (people are more likely to buy appliances that consume less), online sales increased, but the growth rate is slower. Fuel sales fell.

Until recently, retail trade was the main component of GDP. The bad thing is that what we bought was produced outside the country. When Romania still had industry, every lei you paid for a pair of socks produced by a Romanian company was the income of that factory, which, thanks to the lei given by you and others, was able to hire more workers and develop new production departments. The same thing is happening today, only at a factory abroad.

Many of the consumer goods we buy are imported. If you buy a shirt or a TV, you are stimulating manufacturing jobs in China or, at best, in a European country.

This is true across the economy, but a useful example is the apparel industry (where sales doubled in January, according to statistics). Our textile industry has one of the lowest wages and is struggling to survive. And where did the money go? Answer: In factories in China and other parts of the world that produce clothes for the Romanian market.

And we are talking not only about clothes, but also about food, furniture, pharmaceutical products, etc. In short, we consume from imports.

This does not mean that imports are bad. When you buy something imported, if it is cheaper than produced in Romania, it means that you have saved money, which you can then use to take better care of yourself. Simply importing milk from China (as Romania does), Poland, Hungary or even Norway says a lot about the potential of our economy.