BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) The Hong Kong economy can contract by 6-8 percent in 2020 over uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdown measures, as well as external shocks, the special administrative region's government said in a downgraded GDP outlook on Friday.
In late April, the authorities projected that the growth would total between -4 percent and -7 percent.
"Hong Kong's short-term economic outlook is still highly uncertain. Considering the actual outturn in the first half of the year, and the difficult and uncertain economic environment in the second half, but also the cushioning effects of the Government's massive relief measures, the real GDP growth forecast for 2020 as a whole is revised downwards to -6% to -8% in the current round of review," the press release said.
If the coronavirus pandemic is contained in a short time and "further sharp deterioration in the external environment" is averted, the economic performance for 2020 "can hopefully fall within the upper half of the range forecast," the government noted.
In 2019, Hong Kong's economy fell by 1.2 percent for the first time in 10 years, on the heels of protests in the autonomous region and the US-China trade war.
