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Bloomberg
Hong Kong’s retail sales plummeted 13.8% in March, the first back-to-back contraction in more than a year as stringent virus restrictions weighed heavily on the economy and crushed consumer spending.
The fall in sales value from a year earlier was worse than the median estimate of a 12.6% decline expected by economists in a survey, though it was less than the 14.6% drop in February. Sales volume fell 16.8% from a year ago, the Census and Statistics Department said, roughly in line with economist expectations.
The February-March period was the first time since the end of 2020-into-2021 that retail sales declined for two straight months, as the city imposed strict social curbs — including a ban on dining in restaurants after 6 pm and closing gyms and beauty salons — to contain a deadly Covid outbreak.