Many businesses in Hong Kong are already facing strain from China’s economic slowdown, a weak Chinese yuan and fallout from the Sino-US trade war.
“The near-term performance of retail sales will likely remain subdued, as the weakened global and local economic outlook and other headwinds continue to weigh on consumption sentiment,” a government spokesman said after release of the June retail data. “The recent mass demonstrations, if continued, would also dent the retail business further,” he said.
Retail sales fell to HK$35.2bn , a fifth consecutive month of declines. May's decline was revised fractionally to 1.4%. For 2019's first half, retail sales fell 2.6% in value from a year earlier. “The decline trend of the retail sales industry in the coming months will be more obvious, which may fall more than 10%,” said Angela Cheng, an economist at CMB International Capital. “We remain pessimistic about Hong Kong’s future retail business.”