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HK Registers Double-digit Quarterly GDP Growth
The Hong Kong economy turned out a spectacular performance in the first quarter of 2000, with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rendering a 14.3 percent growth in real terms over a year earlier.
This was further up from the already pronounced growth of 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 1999, and was the fastest growth recorded since the third quarter of 1987, according to the First Quarter Economic Report released by the Hong Kong government Friday in Hong Kong.
Government economist K. Y. Tang said the further acceleration in economic growth in the first quarter of this year was broadly based and characterized by a continued surge in external trade and a sharp pick-up in both consumption and investment demand.
Exports of goods and services, having risen considerably in the fourth quarter of 1999, accentuated further to increases of 20.7 percent and 16.4 percent respectively in real terms in the first quarter of 2000 over a year earlier, on the back of the global economic upswing and improved competitiveness for Hong Kong's output, he pointed out.
Locally, consumer spending also picked up distinctly further to an 8.3 percent growth in real terms in the first quarter of 2000 over a year earlier, as the employment situation turned more stable upon the sustained economic recovery, the economist said.
He said investment spending resumed positive growth, at 5.6 percent in real terms in the first quarter of 2000 over a year earlier, after falling for six consecutive quarters.
On the back of the very strong performance so far, Tang forecast the growth rate in real terms of GDP for 2000 is revised upward to 6 percent, from the earlier forecast of 5 percent.
Looking ahead, exports of goods and services should continue to benefit from sustained demand from Europe and from within East Asia, even allowing for some moderation of demand from the United States later in the year, he said.
He pointed out that continued robust growth in exports from the mainland, coupled with improved competitiveness for the economy, should also lift Hong Kong's exports.
In the domestic sector, he noted that steadier employment and income stemming from the economic revival should lend better support to consumer spending.
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