China News Service, Hong Kong, October 31. The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Chen Maobo, issued an essay on the 31st and pointed out that most of Hong Kong's economic indicators have continued to improve this year.

In mid-August, the SAR government predicted that the economic growth for the whole year of 2021 would be 5.5% to 6.5%. According to the current trend, he predicted that the actual growth figure for the whole year of this year should be close to the upper limit of this forecast range.

　　Chen Maobo said that the strong export performance and the gradual recovery of domestic demand drove the Hong Kong economy to grow significantly 7.8% year-on-year in the first half of the year.

From the perspective of trade and consumption-related indicators, Hong Kong’s economic recovery has become more stable in recent months. It is believed that the economic growth figures in the third quarter are still good, but considering that the economic rebound in the first half of this year is much stronger than expected, The comparison base was higher in the second half of last year, and the year-on-year growth rate of the economy in the third quarter should be lower than in the first half.

　　He pointed out that the epidemic in Hong Kong has been basically under control in recent months, and citizens have increased their spending when going out.

In the first half of the year, the value of retail sales in Hong Kong rose by 8.4%, and total restaurant revenue also rebounded by 0.5%.

Benefited from the issuance of electronic consumer vouchers in the past few months, the market sentiment in the retail and catering industry has been further boosted.

The value of retail sales rose by 11.9% in August.

I believe that the upcoming retail sales and restaurant revenues will reflect the continued boom in the market.

　　Chen Maobo also mentioned that the economy has maintained a steady recovery, which can also be seen from the latest data on the labor market.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped sharply from a 17-year high of 7.2% at the beginning of this year to 5.5% in the second quarter, and further fell to 4.5% in the third quarter, the lowest level since the first quarter of last year.

In addition, the business atmosphere has generally improved, which is conducive to the recovery of business investment activities.

　　Looking forward to the fourth quarter of this year, Chen Maobo believes that the growth rate of Hong Kong's exports of goods is expected to slow down as global economic growth has already peaked and declined.

Locally, the improvement in employment and income conditions, coupled with the effect of the consumer voucher program, will continue to support the performance of consumer-related industries.

　　Chen Maobo emphasized that although the recovery momentum of Hong Kong’s economy is still strong so far, we cannot ignore the existing undercurrents in the periphery. In terms of the epidemic, more contagious variants continue to plague many parts of the world, and many major economies have experienced supply bottlenecks. , Both bring downside risks to the global economic outlook.

In addition, high energy and bulk commodity prices, rising shipping costs, and rising external inflation may also hinder global economic growth and put upward pressure on Hong Kong's prices.

We must also pay attention to the monetary policy changes of European and American central banks, Sino-US relations, and geopolitical situations.

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