February 8, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 6,1423

HONG KONG, Feb 7: Hong Kong’s retail sales for 2002 fell by 4.1 per cent in value or 2.6 per cent in volume compared with 2001, the government said on Friday.

Retail sales fell 1.9 per cent in December from a year earlier to HK$15.5 billion while the overall volume of retail sales decreased by 0.7 per cent in December, the Census and Statistics Department said.

November retail sales were down 2.8 per cent year-on-year at HK$13.4 billion and down 1.5 per cent in volume terms.

A government spokesman noted sales of motor vehicles registered double-digit growth for the sixth month in a row, rising by 25.4 per cent in December.—AFP