About 600 Hong Kong workers protested in downtown Hong Kong yesterday, demanding that the government cut taxes and increase jobs in the face of an economic downturn.
Carrying placards and shouting slogans, members from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions marched from a downtown park to the nearby government headquarters to highlight the plight of workers, who are facing salary cuts and job losses.
They called on the government to implement effective economic polices, including reducing taxes and creating jobs by building infrastructure.
Hong Kong's unemployment surged to 4.7 percent in the three months ending July 31. Although it's well below its peak of 6.3 percent in 1999 and lower than the figures in many countries, many people in Hong Kong fear the worst is yet to come, amid more reports of company layoffs.
Hurt by falling exports due to a global economic slowdown, particularly in Japan and the US, Hong Kong's economy slipped 1.7 percentage points from the first quarter of the fiscal year to the second.
The government has revised its growth forecast for the year from 3 percent to 1 percent, and economists believe Hong Kong could soon slip into a recession.
Separately, Financial Secretary Antony Leung said he was encouraged by the optimistic outlook for the US economy after a meeting with the US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Suzhou, O'Neill said he believed the US economy will show signs of recovery from its slowdown by the end of this year.
``Being as externally oriented as Hong Kong's economy [is], and given that the US is our major trading partner, a robust and vibrant US economy will help our economic recovery,'' Leung said after meeting with O'Neill.
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