Hong Kong’s August retail sales fell 23% from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, amid escalating anti-government protests that have gripped the Chinese-ruled city for nearly four months, Reuters reports.
Retail sales fell to HK$29.4 billion ($3.75 billion) in August, a seventh consecutive month of decline. July’s drop was 11.4%.
In volume terms, retail sales in August fell 25.3%, compared with a revised 13.1% drop in July. ($1 = 7.8396 Hong Kong dollars) (Reporting by Donny Kwok and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Andrew Heavens).