HK economy keeping up its momentum: FS

　　Paul Chan is attending the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in Tbilisi. Photo courtesy of Chan's blog

　　Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Sunday said Hong Kong's economy was maintaining its momentum.

　　Writing on his official blog, Chan said the citys GDP had increased five quarters in a row, with growth going up 2.7 percent year-on-year in the quarter ending in March.

　　Market sentiment had also improved, he said, with the Hang Seng Index gaining almost 14 percent recently after going up for nine consecutive days, while the property market had become more active after measures to curb speculation were lifted.

　　Chan said inbound tourism was one of the key drivers of the economy in the first quarter, adding the number of arrivals during the first three days of Golden Week, which stood at nearly 650,000, was up 25 percent from last year.

　　But the minister said external uncertainties remained, and that higher interest rates and a strong Hong Kong dollar would affect the city's tourism sector, as well as export and investment sentiment.

　　He called on companies to develop new products to explore new ways to manage their businesses, noting that authorities were helping SMEs to go digital.

　　The finance chief, who was attending the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, said many participants were interested in the development of the digital economy as well as the innovation and technology sector in the SAR.

　　Chan added authorities recently published the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, to provide a clearer definition of green products and help the sector reduce “greenwashing” risks.