Quarterly business receipts indices for service industries for fourth quarter of 2016 and whole year of 2016
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Comparing the fourth quarter of 2016 with the fourth quarter of 2015, double-digit increases were recorded in business receipts of the real estate (+27.6%) and insurance (+25.0%) industries.
On the other hand, the information and communications industry recorded a decrease of 4.5% in business receipts during the same period, followed by the retail (3.7%) and transportation (2.0%) industries.
Analysed by service domain, business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain decreased by 3.2% year-on-year during the same period, whereas those of the computer and information technology services domain increased by 1.0% year-on-year.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, business receipts in value terms of a number of major service industries recorded increases of different magnitudes in the fourth quarter of 2016 when compared with the third quarter of 2016. In particular, business receipts of the real estate industry increased by 8.9% quarter-to-quarter while those of the warehousing and storage industry increased by 4.9%. On the other hand, the banking industry registered a decline of 3.1% in business receipts during the same period, followed by the wholesale (2.6%) and courier (2.5%) industries.
Comparing the fourth quarter of 2016 with the third quarter of 2016 and on a seasonally adjusted basis, business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain increased by 2.5%, while those of the computer and information technology services domain increased by 8.2%.
For 2016 as a whole, more than half of the major service industries recorded year-on-year increases in business receipts. Double-digit increases were recorded in the insurance (+21.8%), real estate (+16.7%), and warehousing and storage (+12.1%) industries. On the other hand, business receipts of the retail industry decreased by 8.1% when compared with 2015, followed by the transportation (6.5%) and financing (except banking) (6.0%) industries.
Analysed by service domain, business receipts of the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain decreased by 7.8%, while those of the computer and information technology services domain decreased by 3.4% during the same period.
Table 1 presents the business receipts indices and their corresponding year-on-year rates of change in respect of selected service industries and service domains for the recent five quarters and the whole year of 2016, while Table 2 shows the corresponding quarter-to-quarter rates of change in the business receipts indices based on the seasonally adjusted series.
The revised figures of business receipts indices for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2016 will be released at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp70.jsp?subjectID=7&tableID=093&ID=0&productType=8) and relevant publications of the C&SD starting from April 20, 2017.
Data for compiling the business receipts indices are mainly based on the Quarterly Survey of Service Industries conducted by the C&SD, supplemented by relevant data provided by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
A service domain differs from a service industry in that it comprises those economic activities which straddle different industries but are somehow related to a common theme. It may include all activities carried out by all establishments in a service industry that is closely related to the domain. For a service industry that is less closely related, however, only a portion of the establishments in the industry or even only part of the economic activities of the establishments is related to the domain. Taking the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain as an example, it includes all services of hotels and travel agents, and some (those involving visitors as customers) but not all of the services of restaurants, retailers and transport operators.
The classification of service industries follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0, which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes.
More detailed statistics are given in the report "Quarterly Business Receipts Indices for Service Industries, Fourth Quarter 2016". Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp70.jsp?productCode=B1080006).
Members of the public who have enquiries about the business receipts indices may contact the Business Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7267 or email: business-receipts@censtatd.gov.hk).
Ends/Thursday, March 9, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:30
Issued at HKT 16:30
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