Hong Kong’s glory days as a global financial and commercial hub may soon be in the past, at least according to a report released by Trigger Trend, an independent Chinese research firm based in Guangzhou, at the end of last month.
The report says that at USD261 billion (HKD2 trillion), Hong Kong’s GDP, has been overcome by both Shanghai’s and Beijing’s. Meanwhile Hong Kong’s annual growth rate has stayed at roughly two percent over the past few years, while other major regional cities on the mainland have being seeing growth rates of seven percent. The report also says that compared to 1997, when Hong Kong ‘s economy made up 15.6 percent of China’s total GDP, the city made up only 2.9 percent in 2013.
Foreign Policy says that the report does not appear to have been commissioned by the government, but Chinese state-owned media have been gleefully publicising the findings, making sure that Hongkongers know that our city isn’t all that after all.
Trigger Trend predicts that by 2017, Hong Kong’s GDP will be surpassed by Guangzhou, Shenzhen and the municipality of Tianjian. By 2022, Chongqing, Chengdu and Wuhan will have larger economies than the Fragrant Harbour, effectively making Hong Kong a “second tier city”, at least economically.
Thankfully, us Hongkongers know that GDP size does not matter—at least, it’s not all that matters when it comes to making a city a good home.
Photo: Diliff via Wikimedia
