Economics
Hong Kong’s Economy Unexpectedly Contracts in First Quarter
- Falling retail sales, weakening property weighing on growth
- Sentiment hurt by sluggish global environment, government says
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Hong Kong’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter as falling retail sales and a weakening property market weigh on the city.
Gross domestic product fell 0.4 percent in the three months through March from the previous quarter, the government said in a statement Friday, compared with the median estimate for 0.1 percent growth in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, the economy expanded 0.8 percent, less than half the pace in October through December.