Hong Kong: Retail sales sink in March
Retail sales fell 8.6% year on year in March, contrasting February’s 0.5% growth and marking the sharpest fall in two years. Looking at the details of the release, fuel, clothing and jewelry sales all shrank in March.
Over Q1 as a whole, retail sales fell 3.0% in annual terms, pointing to a downbeat picture for private consumption at the outset of the year. Hong Kong retail sales are still languishing over 10% below their pre-Covid-19 levels, weighed on by rising rent prices, the still-incomplete recovery in tourist arrivals and the increasing number of Hong Kongers opting to shop on the mainland.