MACAO - Macao's business of restaurants and retail trade showed year-on-year improvement in December 2017 and for the whole year, the special administrative region's statistic department said on Saturday.

The latest report of business climate survey by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that among the interviewed restaurants and similar establishments, 44 percent reported a year-on-year increase in revenue in December and 24 percent recorded a steady performance.

As regards retail trade, over 60 percent of the interviewed retailers registered a year-on-year sales rise in December, the report added.

For the year of 2017, the business of restaurants and retail trade also showed improvement over 2016.

There were more than 60 percent of the interviewed establishments and retailers reporting a year-on-year growth in revenue or a stable business performance in most of the months in 2017, except in February and August when the business slowed down after the Chinese Lunar New Year and the catastrophic typhoon on Aug. 23 respectively.

The business of retail trade showed remarkable improvement in the fourth quarter of 2017, with the proportions of interviewed retailers reporting a year-on-year sales increase ranging between 59 percent and 61 percent.