The Financial Secretary, John Tsang, said that on Friday that the government will lower its predictions for Hong Kong’s economic growth this year, which they had originally pegged at three to four percent.
This year’s second quarter exhibited a slowdown in growth. The unemployment rate increased from 3.1 percent to 3.2 percent, while capital investment was at a five-year low, reports the SCMP. Meanwhile, retail sales dropped 9.8 percent compared to last year.
In his blog, Tsang announced that “since the city’s economic performance in the first half was worse than expected, we will cut the full-year GDP growth forecast on Friday”.
Tsang also said that any “confrontational” activism for universal suffrage in a time of poor economic growth could lead to the “perfect financial and economic storm”. We’re willing to wager that he might be referring to Occupy Central.
Photo: John Tsang last year (via Wikimedia)
