As Hong Kong protests rage, finance chief Paul Chan warns of further forecast downgrade for city’s economic growth

A cut in predicted GDP growth may be ‘unavoidable’, says Financial Secretary Paul Chan, as falling consumer spending could lead to unemployment surge

Economy taking a battering from violent protests and US-China trade war, with Chan reporting waning confidence from investors abroad

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The man in charge of the Hong Kong economy says the government may need to revise its GDP growth estimates with the protests and US-China trade tensions having a negative impact. Photo: Roy Issa

Published: 6:00pm, 3 Nov 2019Updated: 3:25am, 4 Nov 2019

Hong Kong’s finance chief warned on Sunday of another cut to the city’s growth forecast as five months of protests pounded an economy already suffering from US-China trade tensions.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said a further downgrade for 2019 might now be “unavoidable” and there was a “very big chance” the city would be in recession for the whole year.

Writing in his official blog on Sunday, Chan did not say when the forecast revision for gross domestic product could take place. In August, the administration downgraded its GDP growth prediction to between 0 and 1 per cent, from the previous estimate of 2 to 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Hong Kong’s No 2 official, appealed for peace, on the 22nd consecutive weekend of protests in Hong Kong, which once again descended into violence.

Last week, official data showed Hong Kong had slipped into recession for the first time since the global financial crisis hit the city a decade ago.