Hong Kong’s economy expanded 2.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier after the city removed pandemic controls and the border with mainland China reopened.
(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong’s economy expanded 2.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier after the city removed pandemic controls and the border with mainland China reopened.
The figure was unexpectedly announced by the city’s leader John Lee at his weekly press conference Tuesday morning. A government spokesperson confirmed the figure was year-on-year. The official data is scheduled to be released at 4:30 p.m. local time.
The number beat the median estimate of a 0.5% increase by 10 economists compiled by Bloomberg, and is the first quarterly expansion in more than a year.
Hong Kong’s retail sales grew at the fastest pace in more than a decade in February as spending surged during the Lunar New Year break and tourists from mainland China and elsewhere returned to the city. Last year, Hong Kong recorded its third annual gross domestic product contraction since 2019.
(Updates to add the figure is year-on-year throughout)
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