Retail sales down as economy continues slide

Hong Kong's retail sales continued to slow in May as the economic slowdown took its toll on spending.

Retail sales grew an estimated 8.8% to $36 billion by value in May compared with the same month a year earlier and slower than April's 11.4%, said the Census and Statistics Department.

On the other hand, retail sales by volume rose 5.8% year-on-year, decelerating from 7.6% in April.

Economists said Hong Kong’s retail sales outlook remains bleak due to financial market turbulence caused by the Eurozone crisis and the wavering U.S. economic recovery. The city’s economic growth is expected to weaken in the coming months.

For the first five months of the year, total retail sales increased 13.5% in value and 9.1% in volume over the same period a year earlier.

The volume of sales of miscellaneous consumer durable goods increased the most, by 52.7%.

This was followed by sales of motor vehicles and parts (+41%); electrical goods and photographic equipment (+20.1%); commodities in supermarkets (+9.1%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+6.9%); commodities in department stores (+5.9%); miscellaneous consumer goods (+2.1%); fuels (+1.3%); and apparel (+0.7%).