Off the wire
• Transcontinental railway "high priority" for Unasur: Bolivian minister  • Indian stocks open lower  • Australia's largest greenhouse polluter has to exit carbon emitting business to mitigate financial risk: AGL boss  • First EU ambassador arrives in Gambia on new mission  • Lee Teng-hui's book "betrays the nation": mainland  • 2nd Ld: Search operation for missing aircraft with 21 people on board begins in Nepal  • U.S. fines French firm for doing business with Cuba  • 1st LD: Aircraft with 20 passengers on board missing in Nepal  • Urgent: small plane with 21 people on board missing in in Nepal  • Interview: Chinese visitors infusing more vigor into Egypt's tourism industry following Xi's visit: minister  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD: HK sees 2.4-pct economic growth in 2015: official report

Xinhua, February 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

A senior official said on Wednesday that Hong Kong witnessed an overall economic growth of 2.4 percent last year.

Tsang Chun-wah, finance secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government, made the remarks when delivering the 2016-17 Budget.

Tsang said that although the investment atmosphere turned more cautious, local consumption as well as expenditures on infrastructure and private construction projects remained resilient.

These, together with the stimulus effect of the relief measures introduced in last year's Budget, led to an overall economic growth of 2.4 percent, he added.

It has been the fourth consecutive year that Hong Kong's economic growth was lower than the annual average of 3.4 percent over the past 10 years. The economy faced significant downward pressure in the latter half of the year, further slowing down to a 1.9-percent growth in the fourth quarter.

Export performance in Asia was hit by the global economic setback and highly volatile financial markets in 2015. Hong Kong's exports of goods recorded the first annual decline since 2009, down by 1.7 percent in real terms. Exports of services dropped by 0.6 percent, the first annual decrease since 1998.

Inbound tourism was weak and visitor arrivals dropped by 8 percent in the fourth quarter, down by 2.5 percent for the whole year. Retail sales slackened, recording the first annual decrease since 2009.

The unemployment rate averaged at a low level of 3.3 percent for the year as a whole. Wages and income improved generally. Employment earnings for the lowest three income decile groups of full-time employees rose by 5 to 6 percent as compared with the year before. But the recent decline in labor demand in the sectors related to inbound tourism is giving a cause for concern.

Given the slowdown of the local economy and the mild imported inflation, inflation has dropped for four consecutive years in Hong Kong.

The headline inflation rate in 2015 was 3 percent. Netting out the effects of the government's one-off measures, the underlying inflation rate, at 2.5 percent, was down by 1 percentage point from 2014, said Tsang. Enditem