Chen Maobo: In the first half of the year, Hong Kong's economy hit its strongest level in nearly five years, showing that confidence grew by 3.5%-4.5% throughout the year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Hong Kong Legislative Council continues to jointly debate Hong Kong's first five-year plan and a new “Policy Address”. Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Chan Mao-po said that the international political and economic landscape has been complex and varied since this year, but Hong Kong's economy grew 5.1% year-on-year in the first half of this year, the strongest semi-annual performance in the past five years. Currently, Hong Kong's economy is doing well and is hard to come by. It is necessary to anchor the direction for the next phase of continuous high-quality development. I am confident that Hong Kong will reach the revised forecast of 3.5% to 4.5% real economic growth for the whole year this year.

Chen Maobo pointed out that recent data showed that Hong Kong's economy continued to expand in the third quarter. Commodity exports showed strong performance. The total export value soared 52% year-on-year from July to August, and recorded double digit growth for 19 consecutive months. The number of visitors to Hong Kong continues to rise. Preliminary figures show a year-on-year increase of 9% in the third quarter, with a cumulative total of nearly 41 million visitors in the first nine months. Total retail sales value continued to rise for 16 months, from July to August, with a steady increase of 5.1%. As for the labor market as a whole, the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from June to August was 3.8%, and the employment income of citizens continued to grow.

In terms of the asset market, Chen Maobo said that the Hong Kong property market has been picking up since mid-last year. Overall property prices have risen 7% since this year, and rents have continued to rise, with a cumulative increase of 5% since this year. The stock market is trading well. The average daily turnover for the first nine months reached HK$272.9 billion, which is nearly 10% higher than the average for the full year of last year. The IPO market is also very active. In the first nine months, 118 initial public offerings were held, and the amount raised reached HK$388 billion, surpassing the full scale of last year.

Chen Maobo added that peripheral adverse factors still exist, and the Hong Kong government will pay close attention to the inflation trends of major economies, the policy direction of major central banks, and the risks brought about by trade protectionism and the global artificial intelligence boom.