Exclusive | Hong Kong’s finance chief warns annual economic growth forecast could be cut, admits ‘most critical constraint’ has been border closure and pledges government is doing its all to ease rules
- Exports and investments remain sluggish despite rise in consumption, Financial Secretary Paul Chan says
- City’s economy in second quarter not as strong as expected and Covid-19 situation has taken more time to ease than previously predicted, he adds
Hinting that Hong Kong could be on the brink of a technical recession, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said that while consumption had picked up, exports and investments remained sluggish and a review of the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast would be made in August.
Chan also acknowledged that the city’s strict quarantine rules had been the “most critical constraint that we are facing and we have to overcome” in trying to improve economic recovery.
This was why the new administration, adopting a “evidence-based and precise approach”, was looking into ways to relax isolation rules for incoming travellers to minimise inconvenience and yet protect the most vulnerable groups in society such as the elderly and the young, he said.
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Hong Kong to revise GDP forecast downwards: finance chief Paul Chan
After suffering two years of contraction, of 1.7 per cent and 6.5 per cent, in 2019 and 2020 respectively, Hong Kong’s economy rebounded by 6.3 per cent last year.
In his budget speech in February, Chan had forecast the economy would grow by 2 to 3.5 per cent this year.
