Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dropped by 15.5% year-on-year in April 2022, with Western Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants recording respective fall of 24.0% and 23.9%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers fell by 44.6% year-on-year in April; Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (-59.0%), Department Stores (-58.2%), Adults' Clothing Retailers (-56.1%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (-51.1%) all posted a decline of over 50% in sales, while Supermarkets (+7.3%) registered an increase.
In comparison with March, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments edged down by 0.2% in April; receipts of Chinese Restaurants went down by 1.8% whereas those of Western Restaurants rose by 1.8%. Besides, sales of the interviewed retailers dropped by 10.9% month-on-month in April; Leather Goods Retailers, Department Stores and Motor Vehicle Retailers saw sales decreases of 17.0%, 12.5% and 12.2% respectively.
As regards the business expectations for May, there were 43% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month; the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants stood at 60% and 52% respectively. Meanwhile, 19% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in May, and the corresponding proportions for Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops and Japanese & Korean Restaurants were 34% and 31% respectively. On the other hand, 37% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales rise in May; the corresponding shares for Leather Goods Retailers, Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers and Adults' Clothing Retailers were 60%, 55% and 41% respectively. Besides, 16% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales drop in May, and the corresponding proportion for Motor Vehicle Retailers (46%) was the highest.
The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-on-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was higher than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (61.7) and retail trade (60.8), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in May compared to April.
The sample of the Business Climate Survey on Restaurants & Similar Establishments and Retail Trade comprises 229 restaurants & similar establishments and 161 retailers, which accounted for 53.5% and 70.6% of the respective industry’s receipts in 2019. The Survey results were not extrapolated. The business performance in the reference month is reflected by the change in the receipts of the sampled establishments and retailers in the reference month as against the month of comparison. The value of the BOI ranges between 0 and 100; an index value above 50 implies that the industry has higher business expectations for the coming month as against the month of comparison, whereas an index value below 50 indicates the opposite.