Hong Kong ends longest recession in decades

Hong Kong's economy jumped back into growth in the first quarter of the year, official figures showed, ending the city's most pronounced period of recession in its modern history.

The international financial hub has been battered the last two years by a triple whammy of the USChina trade war, months of social unrest and then the coronavirus pandemic.

It recorded six consecutive quarters of negative growth, a more prolonged downturn than during both the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2007-08 global crash. That came to an end when the government announced the economy grew 7.8 percent on year in the first three months of 2021.

Hong Kong was one of the few places in the world unlucky enough to enter the coronavirus pandemic already mired in a deep recession.

In 2019, months of huge and often violent prodemocracy protests coincided with swirling trade tensions between Beijing and the United States, pummelling the economy that acts as an international gateway to China.

The city was among the first places outside mainland China to record a coronavirus infection, and the economy plunged by a record-breaking 9.1 percent in the first quarter of 2020.

Since then, Hong Kong has managed to keep the virus' spread down to a little more than 11,000 infections thanks to strict quarantine and economically punishing social distancing measures.

This year's economic rebound was largely sparked by a sharp resurgence in exports fuelled by recoveries in both China and the United States.

Financial secretary Paul Chan has forecast fullyear growth of 3.5 to 5.5 percent in 2021.

But the city has warned that the economy remains below its pre-pandemic levels and the recovery will be uneven.