ZCZC
BCN-11
HONGKONG-CHINA-US-TRADE-GDP-GROWTH
Hong Kong economy stalls amid trade dispute: finance chief
HONG KONG, Feb 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Hong Kong’s economy stalled last year as
the ongoing China-US trade dispute and retail woes dragged down local
business, the city’s financial chief said Sunday.
Beijing and Washington have already imposed duties on more than $360
billion in two-way trade, roiling global financial markets and weighing
heavily on manufacturing output in both countries.
“The impact of China-US trade frictions on Hong Kong’s exports has clearly
emerged at the end of last year,” said finance secretary Paul Chan.
Economic growth in the semi-autonomous Chinese city for the last quarter of
2018 was less than 1.5 percent — the weakest since the first quarter of 2016
and a “significant slowdown” from the average growth rate of 3.7 percent in
the first three quarters, Chan wrote on his official blog.
The slowdown brought last year’s growth rate to an estimated three percent,
down from the higher-than-forecast 3.8 percent recorded in 2017, he added.
“It was almost ‘zero-growth’ for commodities exports in the fourth quarter,
which was a sharp drop compared to the average 6 percent growth in the first
three quarters,” he wrote.
Chan said consumer sentiment had also dampened with retail sales rising
only 2.1 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, a far cry from the more
than 12 percent increase in the first half of the year.
“The external political and economic situation remains unclear…
Therefore, we repeatedly stress the need to support enterprises, safeguard
employment, stabilise the economy and benefit people’s livelihoods,” he
wrote, hinting at the ongoing trade negotiations between the world’s top two
economies.
Chan is expected to deliver the Hong Kong budget on February 27.
BSS/AFP/SR/2010 HRS