Hong Kong's retail sales surged by 23.4 percent in December year-on-year to HKD43 billion (USD5.54b) on the back of strong local demand and tourist spending, the Census and Statistics Department said on Thursday.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the period, the volume of total retail sales – the amount of goods shoppers buy – increased by 17.1 percent, the department said.

The value of retail sales in November was HKD33.4b, also a 23.4 percent increase year-on-year. In volume terms, it was an increase of 16.9 percent.

To view the full article (note: you must be an scmp.com subscriber), visit scmp.com. (From seven days after publication, this article will appear in Archive Search.)