Hong Kong September retail sales rise for 8th month as pandemic threat eases
FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective masks walk inside the International Finance Center (IFC) shopping mall, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Hong Kong, China September 14, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
HONG KONG : Hong Kong retail sales rose 7.3per cent in September from a year earlier, the eighth consecutive month of growth, as demand benefited from an improved labour market, an economic recovery from the pandemic and boosted by the effect of the Consumption Voucher Scheme.
Sales surged to HKUS$28 billion (US$3.60 billion) in September, government data showed on Tuesday. They grew 11.9per cent in August.
In volume terms, retail sales rose 4.7per cent year-on-year in August, compared with a revised 10per cent surge in August.
(US$1 = 7.7818 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Donny Kwok and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
