Economics
Hong Kong Retail Sales Unexpectedly Rebound as Covid Curbs Ease
Pedestrians cross the street in the Causeway Bay shopping area in Hong Kong, China, on April 30.
Photographer: Chan Long Hei/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Hong Kong’s retail sales surprisingly rebounded in April, lifting the sector out of contraction after strict Covid curbs hammered consumer spending earlier this year.
Sales value rose 11.7% in April from a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department said Wednesday. That was far better than the median estimate of a 7.9% decline expected by economists in a Bloomberg survey. It was also much better than the 13.8% plunge in March, when Covid cases in the city ballooned and there were tight curbs on activity.