(MENAFN)
Paul Chan, the financial secretary of Hong Kong, said that the economy of Hong Kong is predicted to shrink in the fourth quarter of the current year as the region suffers from an ongoing protests since the past 6 months, he was quoted saying that "Based on the situation of these few months, it is inevitable that negative growth will continue".
The violent social unrest which took place in June and remains ongoing has negatively affected the economy in Hong Kong, especially in the tourism sector as the protests have drowned visitors sentiments to visit the country and resulted in a significant decline in retail sales, a huge rally is planned to take place on the 1st of January despite the muted gatherings over this weekend, the official said that "This means the government will be less flexible in using financial resources under an economic recession".
The Civil Human Rights Front has planned the gathering that is to take place on Wednesday as it has held some of the largest rallies since the protests started, the number of tourists to China, which makes up the largest visitors group in the city, has dropped to almost half its size due to the protests, revenue of retails has decline around a quarter of its value.
The official said that the budget speech that will be released in February will circle around supporting business, rebounding the economy and safeguarding employment in the city as well as relieving the social distress as Hong Kong still faces global issues like protectionism and geopolitics
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