Chen Maobo said that the Hong Kong economy's three-carriage "death fire" needs to be consumed locally

Financial News

Written by: Xu Shihao

2020-05-04 16:58

The Government announced today (4th) the estimated economic growth (GDP) data for the first quarter. The Financial Secretary Chen Maobo said that the GDP for the first quarter of this year fell by 8.9% in real terms compared with the same period of last year, and also fell by 5.3% quarter-to-quarter These are the biggest declines in a single quarter since the record. The reasons for this include the impact of Sino-US trade frictions on Hong Kong ’s exports, social events and violent shocks last year, and the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic. He described the three-headed carriage of Hong Kong's economy, including exports, consumption, and investment expenditures, as "dead fire."

Exports of goods fell by 9.7% year-on-year, exports of services fell by 37.8%, and private consumption expenditure fell by 10.2%. Chen said that the above figures are the largest declines in record. Looking forward to the second quarter, the situation is not optimistic. Even if there is an improvement, it will be Slowly, the main reason is that the global epidemic is not under control. Even if it is under control later, the economies of the countries concerned cannot be fully recovered immediately. Therefore, Hong Kong ’s exports are unlikely to improve significantly, and international business investment and trade are not likely to rebound sharply in the short term. Local investment will take time. Fully restored, it is now necessary to work together to promote the rapid recovery of local consumption.

Chen Xu said that the government will continue to increase spending to support enterprises and wage earners, and will do its utmost to make a 10,000 yuan cash distribution plan. He also said that the 100-day anti-epidemic depends on everyone, and depends on the cooperation of the public and enterprises. He believes that "human harmony" in Hong Kong is more important than "weather" and "geographical location." Half a year has gradually come out of the bottom.

Push more measures when necessary to dynamically assess the situation

When asked whether he would issue additional cash or coupons in addition to the 10,000 yuan distribution plan, Chen responded that the government launched two rounds of anti-epidemic measures, etc., with a scale of 290 billion yuan, accounting for about 10% of GDP. Quite a number of announced measures, such as employment support, have not yet been fully launched. We must do our best to introduce these measures as soon as possible. I hope that these measures will be fully implemented first to allow the government to better grasp the economic situation. The government will dynamically assess the situation and need it. More support measures will be introduced.

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