File photo: VCG

HONG KONG, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's retail sales volume registered the sharpest decline on record in the first quarter of the year due to impacts from the COVID-19 epidemic, according to official data on Tuesday.

A spokesman of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said the volume of retail sales fell by 36.9 percent year-on-year in the January-March period, the largest decline for a single quarter.

Retailers in Hong Kong continued to suffer in March as the epidemic and following restrictive measures on travel and gatherings brought inbound tourism to a standstill and seriously disrupted consumption-related activities.

The value of total retail sales in March was provisionally estimated at 23 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 3 billion U.S. dollars), down by 42 percent from a year ago. The value of retail sales in the first quarter dropped 35 percent with the same period in 2019.

In March, the sales of jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts plummeted 75.2 percent. The sales of medicines and cosmetics fell 63.8 percent, and the sales of wearing apparel were down by 67.2 percent. Sales of many other types of products also dropped significantly.

The business environment for retail trade will remain very difficult in the near term amid the deep economic recession and sharp deterioration in the labor market, the spokesman said.

Given the economic hardship, the HKSAR government has rolled out relief schemes and has approved about 2.2 billion Hong Kong dollars of subsidies for retailers.

As the COVID-19 pandemic dealt another blow to Hong Kong's economy yet to recover from months of violent incidents last year, the GDP contracted 8.9 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, the largest recorded decline since the reference period of the first quarter of 1974.