Commentary
10. A Government Secretariat spokesman pointed out that the overall volume of retail sales sustained solid growth in August over a year earlier, indicating that consumer demand continued to hold up well amidst the full-fledged economic recovery. Looking ahead in the coming few months, a number of positive factors will continue to render support to retail business. These include the improving labour market conditions particularly the rise back in labour income, vibrant inbound tourism, as well as the generally upbeat market sentiment. But there could be some negative impact on consumer demand because of successive interest rate increases.
11. The volume of retail sales is derived from the value of retail sales after adjusting for price changes. The relevant components of the Consumer Price Index are used as price deflators.
12. Table 1 presents the revised figures on value index and value of retail sales for all retail outlets and by type of retail outlet for July 2005 and the provisional figures for August 2005, with average retail sales from October 1999 to September 2000 taken as 100.
13. Table 2 presents the revised figures on volume index of retail sales for all retail outlets and by type of retail outlet for July 2005 and the provisional figures for August 2005, with average retail sales from October 1999 to September 2000 taken as 100.
14. Table 3 shows the movement of the volume of total retail sales in terms of the year-on-year rate of change for a month compared with the same month in the preceding year based on the original series, and in terms of the rate of change for a three-month period compared with the preceding three-month period based on the seasonally adjusted series.
Census & Statistics Department
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