Though a breakdown of GDP into its expenditure components is currently unavailable, we highlight a number of leading indicators which point towards a continued deterioration in economic conditions. First, given that the Romanian consumer provides the backbone for the economy, contributing around 80% to the national output, the latest retail sales data provide an important indicator for the health of the wider economy. In this regard, the 17.3% y-o-y plunge in retail sales in June, which eclipsed the 12.3% fall in May and marks the fast rate of decline since the beginning of the NSI's data series in 2010, certainly does not bode well for the health of the wider economy. That the downturn in retail sales has yet to find a bottom suggests that economic growth in the third quarter could prove at least as bad as in the second. The latest labour market data further suggest that consumer demand is set to remain weak for some time to come. The unemployment rate has continued to tread higher during the first half of the year, reaching 6.0% in June, while real wage growth has slowed to 2.4% y-o-y in the same month from a 2009 peak of 12.9% in February. Given that unemployment is typically a lagging indicator of the business cycle, and is expected to continue swelling even after the economy shows signs of recovery, consumer demand will resultantly remain subdued through the remainder of 2009 and into 2010.