XN000022-1996-04-12 — Page 13

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Business receipts indices for service industries

According to statistics released today (Friday) by the Census and Statistics Department, business receipts in most of the service industries showed increases in value terms in 1995 over 1994. The transport and storage industries registered the fastest growth, both by 18%. The hotels and banking industries also grew by 17%.

The strong growth in the transport industry was mainly attributable to increase in business of companies providing cargo forwarding services, while that in the storage industry was related to a rapid increase in imports and re-exports.

In 1995, business receipts in the hotels industry went up significantly. The surge in the banking industry was mainly brought about by an increase in net interest income, evidenced by growth in total loans and advances placed.

Continued increases in business receipts were also registered in the following service industries: import/export (+15%); insurance (+14%); communications (+13%) and business services (+8%).

On the other hand, business receipts in the financing (except banking) industry went down, by 17% in value terms. The decrease was mainly due to marked declines in stock exchange turnover and sales of investment funds in 1995 compared with a year earlier.

Comparing the fourth quarter of 1995 with the same quarter of 1994, business receipts in the storage and banking industries registered strong growth, by 20% and 18% respectively in value terms.

Notable increases in business receipts were also registered in the following services industries: transport (+14%); hotels (+14%); insurance (+14%) and communications (+13%).

Concurrently, the import/export, business services and restaurants industries also grew moderately, by 8%, 7% and 6% respectively in value terms.

On the other hand, business receipts in the financing (except banking) industry dropped by 6%, reflecting the sluggish performance in the stock and capital markets. This however represented an improvement from the 23% decline in the preceding quarter.