Macau’s retail sales decreased by 12.5 percent year on year to 20.7 billion patacas in the first quarter of this year, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced yesterday.
A DSEC statement said the decline was “mainly due to the high comparison base in the same quarter of last year resulting from an upsurge in demand amid the resumption of local economic activity” at that time.
This year’s first-quarter figure represented an increase of 1.2 percent compared with the first quarter of pre-pandemic 2019, the bureau underlined.
Compared with the fourth quarter of last year, retail sales grew by 2.3 percent quarter on quarter.
Sales of communication equipment fell by 32.8 percent year on year in the first three months of this year.
Two women look at the clothes on display outside of a retail shop near the Ruins of St. Paul’s. – Photo taken recently by Rui Pastorin
