Hong Kong still heading for recession even with relief measures announced to counter slowdown and turmoil, economists warn
- Finance chief Paul Chan unveiled HK$19.1 billion worth of measures for enterprises and residents, saying they could help boost the economy by 0.3 per cent
- But economists remain pessimistic about the city’s economic outlook
Hong Kong will not be able to avoid a recession this year despite the financial chief’s basket of help measures to shore up the struggling economy amid the downturn and political turmoil, economists say.
Warning of a possible recession in the current July-September quarter, he downgraded the government’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the year to anywhere between 0 and 1 per cent, from 2-3 per cent previously.
“The situation we are in now is like the typhoon No 3 signal has been hoisted and the typhoon is heading towards us,” Chan said. “We need to get prepared before it gets worse.”
He warned that the city could slip into a technical recession in the current quarter if GDP fared worse than in the second quarter, when it shrank by 0.3 per cent from the first quarter.