MACAO, May 18 (Xinhua) -- About 59 percent of the interviewed restaurants and similar establishments in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) reported a year-on-year rise in receipts in March, up by 10 percent from February, the SAR's statistics service said on Friday.

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that about 82 percent of Chinese restaurants report increase of receipts, the highest proportion recorded since the survey began.

As regards retail trade, 70 percent of the interviewed retailers reported a year-on-year sales increase in March, down by 14 percent from February. On the other hand, 15 percent of the interviewed retailers registered a year-on-year sales decline, up by 8 percent from February.

The interviewed restaurants and similar establishments expected their business to weaken slightly in April, with 17 percent of them expecting a year-on-year growth in receipts, down by 6 percent from March.

About 37 percent of retailers anticipated a year-on-year sales increase in April, up by 2 percent from March.