A star ferry crosses the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on Aug 22, 2021. (BERTHA WANG / AFP)
Hong Kong’s economy is expected to see mild growth of about 2 percent of 2022 despite the adverse effects from the Omicron-variant outbreak in the first half of the year, according to a study published by the University of Hong Kong on Friday.
The study showed that the Hong Kong economy experienced robust growth of 6.4 percent in 2021, with vibrant consumer confidence and a good employment environment.
With the relaxation of infection-control measures, the city’s unemployment rate is expected to drop to 4.4 percent in the second quarter in 2022
However, as the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic weighed on the labor market and business environment, the unemployment rate increased from 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter in 2021 to 5 percent in the first three months of this year.
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With the relaxation of infection-control measures, the city’s unemployment rate is expected to drop to 4.4 percent in the second quarter in 2022. Also, the HKU research team forecast that the real GDP for the city is to grow by 0.9 percent during the same period.
Despite a challenging global environment caused by the coronavirus and the conflict in Ukraine, Hong Kong’s economy is forecast to have mild growth of 1.6 to 2.6 percent for this year as a whole, the report said.
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The quarterly forecast is based on the research program conducted by the APEC Studies Program of the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy at HKU.
