Hong Kong’s economy broke out of a yearlong recession in the second quarter as the territory benefited from strong growth in China and better conditions in the West, the government said yesterday.
The pickup adds to the list of economies in Asia and beyond to emerge from recession or shrink at a less-dismal pace since the banking crisis sent global production and demand plunging last year.
The territory’s economy, slammed four straight quarters by free-falling world demand for exports, grew by 3.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the government said. The economy contracted 4.3 percent in the first quarter.
With the global economy starting to level out, Hong Kong made a less pessimistic forecast for all of this year, saying GDP was set to contract between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent rather than 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent.
“While we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, I should warn that the outlook remain highly uncertain because the situations in the United States and Europe are still very weak,” government economist Helen Chan (陳李藹倫) said.
Higher demand for Hong Kong’s exports, particularly from China helped explain the turnaround.
Exports dropped 12.4 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, the government said. That was tamer than the nearly 23 percent drop-off in the first quarter.
Hong Kongers were also more willing to spend. Private consumption was up 4 percent from the previous quarter, though still down 1 percent from the same period last year.
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