Financial Secretary: HK economy may shrink this year
HONG KONG: Hong Kong may report negative growth this year as the economy reels from more than four months of social unrest, Financial Secretary Paul Chan wrote in a blog post yesterday.
It is “impossible to rule out the possibility” that full-year gross domestic product will decline, Chan wrote in the post. “It seems that it is extremely difficult to achieve the forecast of 0 to 1%.”
The government will announce its advanced estimate for third-quarter growth on Thursday. Earlier this month, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that the city entered recession in the three-month period and warned of an “unprecedented challenge”.
Chan said the protests’ “blow to our economy is comprehensive”, citing falling visitor arrivals, with the decline turning into an “emergency” in August and September, and dropping hotel occupancy rates. The city this week unveiled Us$255mil in economic support measures, targeting the tourism and transportation industry, to help businesses grappling with economic fallout from the political turmoil. It also gave handouts to travel agencies to revive tourism.
While the government will try its best to “further study” relief measures to truly solve the problem, Hong Kong people must work together to stop the violence, wrote Chan. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists have held rallies and protests for 21 straight weekends in a fight for greater democracy. — Bloomberg