MACAO, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The business performance of restaurants and retail trade in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) improved in May 2019 due to the Labour Day holiday, the SAR's statistic service said here on Thursday.

A latest business climate survey report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that there were 73 percent of the interviewed restaurants and similar establishments recording a year-on-year rise in receipts or steady performance in May, up by 8 percentage points from April.

As regards retail trade, 35 percent of the interviewed retailers registered a year-on-year sales increase in May, a growth of 7 percentage points from the preceding month.

The interviewed restaurants and similar establishments expected their business to slacken in June, with 34 percent of them anticipating a year-on-year decline in receipts, up by 7 percentage points from May.

Retailers expected no significant change in their business in June, with 36 percent of them anticipating their sales to decrease year-on-year, a 1 percentage point growth from May.