Revenues of restaurants and related establishments interviewed dropped 5.3% year-on-year in February 2022, with Western restaurants, Chinese restaurants and Japanese & Korean restaurants recording respective falls of 8.5%, 7.7% and 7.2%.
Sales of the 161 retailers interviewed rose by 29.7% year-on-year in February; Watches, Clocks & Jewelry Retailers (+49.3%), Department Stores (+41.1%) and Leather Goods Retailers (+37.8%) all registered notable growth in sales, while Motor Vehicle Retailers (-22.5%) recorded a marked fall.
Concerning business expectations for March, 53% of the interviewed restaurants and similar establishments expected their receipts to decrease month-on-month; the corresponding prediction for Chinese Restaurants reached 81%.
Meanwhile, 18% of the businesses interviewed predicted that their receipts would increase month-on-month in March, and the corresponding figure for Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops was 34%.
On the other hand, 43% of the retailers interviewed forecasted a month-on-month sales drop in March.
In a recently published survey, data shows that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are facing a gloomy outlook, with nearly 10% of the local firms interviewed set to close, while more than 85% indicated that their business’ revenue has decreased by nearly half from pre-pandemic times.
The survey conducted by the Federal General Commercial Association of Macau Small and Medium Enterprises pointed out that the SMEs’ business confidence index stands at only 30 points, far below the 100-point base line.
According to DSEC, 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 and similar establishments (32.5) and retail trade (38.8), indicating that the respondents from both industries envisaged a less favorable business outlook in March than in February.
