HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s economic growth moderated for the second straight quarter in the three months ended September, data from the Census and Statistics Department showed Friday.
In real terms, gross domestic product advanced 3.6 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, slower than second quarter’s 3.9 percent rise.
In the first quarter of this year, the rate of expansion was 4.3 percent. During the September quarter, external demand stayed vibrant, supported by the broadly benign global economic conditions.
Domestic demand attained solid growth, led by the brisk expansion of private consumption. On the expenditure side, private consumption expenditure grew 6.7 percent annually in the third quarter, while gross domestic fixed capital formation contracted by 1.7 percent.
Total exports of goods climbed 5.5 percent over the year and imports by 6.1 percent. On a quarterly basis, real GDP rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in the third quarter, slower than the 1.1 percent gain in the previous quarter. Looking ahead, economic growth for 2017 as whole is now at 3.7 percent, higher than the mid-point of the range forecast of 3-4 percent announced in the August round, Mr Andrew Au, a government spokesman said.
The forecast rates of underlying and headline consumer price inflation for 2017 as a whole are slightly revised downwards to 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively in the current round of review, from 1.8 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively in the August round.
