People gather to watch the sunset as they stand on a viewing platform in Tamar Park overlooking Victoria Harbour and the Kowloon skyline in Hong Kong on May 5, 2020. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s fragile economy, weighed down by the coronavirus pandemic and geopolitical storm, could see negative growth of 4.5 percent in the final quarter of 2020, ending down 7.2 percent for the turbulent year, according to the latest forecast by the University of Hong Kong. 

The SAR is on track to post negative economic growth for six consecutive quarters since the third quarter of last year

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The Asian financial center, whose economy contracted by 9 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter, could head for an estimated lesser decline of 6.5 percent in the third quarter. For the final three months, the plunge is expected to narrow further to 4.5 percent, compared with the previous year, according to the university. 

The SAR is on track to post negative economic growth for six consecutive quarters since the third quarter of last year.

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The University of Hong Kong on Tuesday revised its forecast of 1.7 percentage points downward to project a 7.2-percent plunge in the city’s economic output for the whole year.

The local unemployment rate, in particular, is set to worsen to 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter, from the estimated 6.2 percent in the previous quarter.