The Hong Kong economy accelerated its pace of growth towards the end of the year remarkably due to a resurgence in tourism and a boost in household consumption. These preliminary findings were disclosed on Wednesday by the Census and Statistics Department. Despite expectations of a 4.7 percent growth, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) experienced a slightly lower increase, registering 4.3 percent in the last quarter. This rate follows the 4.1 percent increase observed the previous quarter.
When comparing quarter to quarter, the GDP grew by 0.5 percent, meeting the predicted percentage and slightly outpacing the third quarter's growth of 0.3 percent. Despite a challenging international climate, the economy was able to recover in 2023. A leading factor behind this recovery was the surge of visitor arrivals due to the resumption of standard travel with mainland China and globally. The GDP climbed up by 3.2 percent in 2023 after witnessing a 3.7 percent downfall the prior year.
Analyzing the expenditure aspect of GDP revealed that the private consumption in the fourth quarter was slightly sluggish at 3.5 percent annually, falling behind the 6.2 percent increase of the third quarter. Concurrently, the decrease in government consumption deepened further to 5.2 percent from the observed 4.0 percent of the preceding quarter.
However, following the 21.8 percent surge, gross domestic fixed capital formation expanded by 15.7 percent. Furthermore, goods' exports rose by 2.8 percent, contrasting the 8.7 percent decrease experienced during the third quarter. Meanwhile, imports saw a 3.9 percent increase contradicting the previous 6.1 percent drop.
Services exports climbed by a yearly rate of 22.1 percent, a marginally slower pace compared to the 23.2 percent increase seen earlier. At the same time, services imports grew by 27.4 percent following a 28.9 percent rise.
A government spokesperson addressed the anticipated pressures on exports due to a challenging external environment this year. However, they also suggested that the situation may stabilize later in the year if advanced economies decide to cut interest rates. The spokesperson further asserted that the continued rise in visitor arrivals and a higher household income should continually back up private consumption. They anticipated that fixed asset investments would increase proportionally to economic growth, although strict financial conditions might remain restrictive in the near future.
