Business is expected to grow in the second quarter, particularly in real estate, manufacturing, financing and insurance, transportation, storage and courier services, the import-export trade and the wholesale, and professional and business services sectors.

This was the finding of the Census & Statistics Department's Quarterly Business Tendency Survey released today, which revealed 33% of respondents forecast a better outlook while only 6% expected business to fall.

More respondents in most of the surveyed sectors expect a rise in their volume of business than those expecting a fall.

On employment, most sectors expect it to increase in the second quarter, particularly in real estate.

Respondents in all sectors expect their selling prices or service charges to rise, with those in the real estate sector having more favourable expectations.