Hong Kong's retail sales continued to drop in November of 2019 as social unrest dampened consumption sentiment.
The value of total retail sales in November was provisionally estimated at 30 billion Hong Kong dollars (3.86 billion USdollars), down 23.6 per cent from a year ago, according to a statement of the Census and Statistics Department of the government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Friday.
The decline slightly narrowed from a 24.4-per cent drop seen in October and marked a losing streak since February.
A government spokesman said that retail sales continued to fall sharply in November as the local social incidents turned extremely violent, causing very severe disruptions to tourism- and consumption-related activities and further dampening consumption sentiment.
Sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts were the hardest-hit, slumping 43.5 per cent year on year, followed by a 33.4-per cent slip in medicines and cosmetics and a 32.9-per cent drop in commodities in department stores.
For the first 11 months of 2019 combined, total retail sales decreased by 10.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2018.
The near-term outlook for the retail trade continues to hinge on how the local social incidents will evolve, the spokesman said, stressing that ending violence and restoring social order are essential to the recovery of the retail trade and indeed that of the whole economy.