Economic growth slows in first quarter as inflation looms
Property cooling measures, drop in exports to US, Europe and Japan, and monetary easing overseas contribute to lower rate of expansion
Hong Kong's economic growth slowed in the first three months of the year.
Real gross domestic product rose only 0.2 per cent on a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, down from 1.4 per cent in the last three months of 2012.
Officials said the city's economy continued to grow moderately with improving global circumstances compared with the latter half of last year. They maintained their forecast that GDP will grow by 1.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent this year.
Government economist Helen Chan said inflation was expected to edge up in the coming months, but kept the full-year inflation forecast at 4.2 per cent. Last year consumer prices rose 4.1 per cent. The short-term rise would be the result of increases in rents last year, she said.
For the first quarter of the year, inflation was 3.8 per cent. Chan credited the government's latest measures to cool the property market for the outcome.
Dr Li Kui-wai, of City University's department of economics and finance, said that although the government was pushing down property prices, speculators could still put money into other investments, including the stock market, which could push up inflation this year.
