Economic Situation in 2024
9. Last year, Hong Kong's economy progressed steadily amid a complicated and changing environment. The unstable international geopolitical situation, escalated trade conflicts and elevated global interest rates exerted adverse impact on local economic activities and confidence. Nevertheless, our country's economy is making steady progress and has rolled out measures benefitting Hong Kong one by one. Together with the Government's initiatives to boost the economy and interest rate cuts by the US since mid-September, they all provided support to different economic segments in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's economy recorded moderate growth of 2.5 per cent last year.
10. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that the global economy grew by 3.2 per cent last year. Supported by the continuing expansion of external demand, Hong Kong's total exports of goods grew by 4.7 per cent in real terms.
11. As a result of our country's various measures benefitting Hong Kong, together with a large number of mega events organised throughout the year and the recovery of our air traffic capacity, the number of visitors increased by about 30 per cent to approximately 45 million last year, boosting the travel and transport services. Other cross-boundary economic activities also improved. Total exports of services grew by 4.8 per cent for the year.
12. As the economy grew and the Government took forward infrastructure projects, overall investment expenditure rose by 2.4 per cent. Private consumption expenditure, however, slightly declined by 0.6 per cent for the year, as a result of changes in the consumption pattern of local residents.
13. The labour market remained tight. The latest unemployment rate stayed low at 3.1 per cent. The median monthly employment earnings of full-time employees grew by a solid 4.8 per cent, year-on-year, in the fourth quarter of last year.
14. Inflation was mild in overall terms. Netting out the effects of the Government's one-off measures, the underlying consumer price inflation rate was 1.1 per cent last year.
15. Sentiment in the asset markets improved during the year, benefitting from a series of measures of the Central Government to support Hong Kong's capital market, as well as the rate-cut cycle of the US. The stock market saw increases in both prices and turnover volume. The Hang Seng Index rose by 18 per cent for the year, and the average daily turnover increased by 26 per cent. Funds raised by new listings increased to $88 billion.
16. The residential property market continued to adjust in the first three quarters of last year. But it stabilised after the interest rate cuts. For the year, the number of transactions increased by 23 per cent to about 53 000, while property prices fell by seven per cent. The non-residential property market remained stagnant.
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