Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dropped by 5.3% year-on-year in February 2022, with Western Restaurants, Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants recording respective decreases of 8.5%, 7.7% and 7.2%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 29.7% year-on-year in February; Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (+49.3%), Department Stores (+41.1%) and Leather Goods Retailers (+37.8%) registered notable growth in sales while Motor Vehicle Retailers (-22.5%) posted a marked fall.

In comparison with January, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went up by 1.7% in February; receipts of Chinese Restaurants grew by 9.4% whereas those of Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops dropped by 6.5%. Besides, sales of the interviewed retailers edged down by 0.8% month-on-month in February; Supermarkets and Motor Vehicle Retailers saw sales decreases of 26.6% and 16.5% respectively, while Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers reported a sales rise of 17.3%.

As regards the business expectations for March, there were 53% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to decrease month-on-month; the corresponding share for Chinese Restaurants reached 81%. Meanwhile, 18% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would increase month-on-month in March, and the corresponding proportion for Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops was 34%. On the other hand, 43% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales drop in March, with the corresponding shares for Leather Goods Retailers (60%), Department Stores (58%) and Adults' Clothing Retailers (52%) exceeding 50%. Besides, 20% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales rise in March, and the corresponding proportion for Motor Vehicle Retailers stood at 64%.

The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-on-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was lower than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (32.5) and retail trade (38.8), indicating that the respondents from both industries envisaged a less favourable business outlook in March compared to February.

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.