External environment, cross-border travel disruption weigh business sentiment

Business receipts in the third quarter showed decreases, the C&SD reported. 

The worsened external environment and the disruptions in cross-boundary transportation may have dragged business sentiments after decreases were recorded in major service industries, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) reported. 

In particular, double-digit decreases were recorded in financing, except in banking, (-18.5%), real estate (-11.5%), import/export trade (-11.2%), and insurance (-10.8%) industries. 

Read more: Business sentiment of SMEs ‘eases’ in July

Double-digit increases were meanwhile recorded in business receipts of the accommodation services (+19.5%), and administrative and support services (+11.5%) industries. 

On a service domain basis, business receipts of the tourism, convention, and exhibition services domain increased by 35.7% year-on-year during the same period, whilst those of the computer and information technology services domain decreased by 5.6% year-on-year.