Hong Kong slips into second recession since 2019 mass protests

International financial hub’s economy shrinks 1.4 percent in the second quarter, after previous 3.9 percent decline

Hong Kong has tipped back into a technical recession, new government figures showed Monday, weighed down by mounting interest rates, weakened global trade and the city’s continued adherence to strict coronavirus controls, Qazet.az reportsz

Following a year-on-year decrease of 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2022, the city’s gross domestic product (GDP) again reported a decline in the second quarter on Monday — but with a narrower margin of 1.4 percent — according to advance estimates released by the Census and Statistics Department.

The downturn is reversing last year’s recovery when the economy enjoyed a 6.3 percent annual growth after the slowdown in 2019 and 2020 when the city was first upended by months of huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests, and then the pandemic.

The Hong Kong government said the economic improvement was smaller than expected due to weak performance in external trade.

Official statistics released last month showed the value of total exports of goods in the second quarter decreased by 4.2 percent compared with the preceding quarter.

For the first half of 2022, a visible trade deficit of $206.1bn, equivalent to 8.2 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded.