HK Sees Worst First Quarter Growth In A Decade

Initial data shows that Hong Kong’s GDP grew by half a percent in the first quarter – the slowest rate in a decade.

In 2009, as the subprime crisis in the United States led to a global financial meltdown, Hong Kong saw a negative growth rate of minus 1.7 percent in the first three months.

On Thursday, the government said the latest figures were an “advance estimate” and more updated data would be released in about two weeks' time.

According to the initial figure Hong Kong’s economy grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, after seeing an increase of 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

The government said the SAR's economy has been “weighed down by the weaker performance of the global economy and the various external headwinds”.

Total exports of goods weakened further in the first quarter, and recorded a decrease of 4.2 percent. The government said the trend is similar to the situation in many other Asian economies.

But it said a “sustained expansion of inbound tourism” continued to provide support for Hong Kong's economy.

Domestically, private consumption only grew marginally against a high base of comparison in the same quarter of last year, and overall investment expenditure contracted as business sentiment has turned cautious since the latter part of 2018.