2018.11.1607:43:00UTC+00Hong Kong Economic Growth Sharply Slows In Q3

Hong Kong's economic growth slowed sharply in the third quarter on weaker consumption, figures from the Census and Statistics Department showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product grew 2.9 percent year-on-year following a 3.5 percent expansion in the second quarter. The latest pace of growth was the slowest since 2016.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, real GDP grew by 0.1 percent in the third quarter following a 0.2 percent decrease in the previous three months, the agency said. Both private consumption and government spending growth slowed in the third quarter, while growth in exports and imports improved. "Looking ahead, the economic outlook is subject to increasing downside risks," the Hong Kong government economist Andrew Au said.

The government forecast economic growth for 2018 as a whole at 3.2 percent, which was within the range forecast of 3-4 percent announced in the August round.

The core inflation projection was trimmed to 2.5 percent from 2.7 percent and the headline price growth forecast was cut to 2.2 percent from 2.4 percent. "The trade dispute between China and the US will continue to hurt import and export activities as more than half of exports go to Mainland China," ING Bank economist Iris Pang said.

"And consumption activities will still be constrained by the money that has been spent on down payments."

"To cushion the economy, we expect that the government will speed up the construction of public housing to cushion some of the negative impact," she added.