Hong Kong faces recession as five-month protests paralyzed economy

Hong Kong is facing a technical recession as the nearly half-a-year protests affected local tourism and retail sales, sending the output figures of these sectors crashing.

Many expect a negative economic growth that will be churned out as the Asian Financial Hub is set to post its report on Thursday. Following this development, Hong Kong faces a technical recession or two consecutive quarters of economic decline, according to Paul Chan, financial secretary of Hong Kong.

Exports figures also slid to more than 7% compared to the same period in 2018. This marks the largest quarterly drop in almost a decade, said Chan.

He also noted that Hong Kong may also not reach its target growth rate of 0%-1% for the year.

Aside from the ongoing protests, the U.S.-China trade war and economic slowdown of China are also found suspects to the city state’s economic decline.

However, Hong Kong’s financial markets generally carrying the load for its economy. The Hang Seng Index is still 4% up for the year.

https://maxitrade.com/en/hong-kong-faces-recession-as-five-month-protests-paralyzed-economy