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HK's economy expected to see moderate growth of 2.5 pct in 2016

Xinhua, December 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Economic growth of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is expected by analysts to be at 2.5 percent in 2016, largely unchanged from this year's performance.

According to a report issued by Bank of China (BOC) (Hong Kong) Limited on Tuesday, sluggish overseas economies, a strong U.S. dollar and slow down in the tourism market exerted negative influences on Hong Kong's economy this year.

However, the region's internal demand and jobs market remained stable. For this year, economic growth is estimated to be at 2.5 percent with unemployment rate staying at a low level of 3.3 percent.

The bank was pessimistic about Hong Kong's external trade and tourism industry next year. With such weak overseas market demand, domestic market demand would become the main drive of economic growth in 2016.

BOC (Hong Kong)'s economic and policy research director Xie Guoliang said that global economic outlook could be slightly more optimistic next year, yet with interest rate on the rise in the United States and a quick turnaround in the tourism sector unlikely to realize, exports and tourism revenue would not be much better in a short period.

For 2016, economic growth and unemployment rate of Hong Kong are expected to remain largely the same as this year, at 2.5 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. The inflation rate is expected to see a year-on-year rise of 2.2 percent.

Among different sectors, growth for the financial industry will remain robust next year.

Terence Tai-Leung Chong, executive director of Institute of Global Economics and Finance at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said a strong financial sector will take in workforce from other sectors like retails, and Hong Kong's economy will remain healthy.

As for the housing market, there is wide-spreading anticipation of a decline in prices. According to BOC (Hong Kong) report, the expected decline would be a moderate one.

The BOC (Hong Kong) report also predicted that Chinese mainland's economic growth in 2016 will be at 6.8 percent. The bank estimated that the RMB to U.S. dollar exchange rate will drop to 6.6 yuan to 1 U.S. dollar. Endit