Hong Kong Growth Accelerating Again

Just like in America,where growth slowed significantly in the fourth quarter of 2005 only to increase significantly in the first quarter of 2005, so did Hong Kong growth re-accelerate in the first quarter after slowing down significantly. Volume growth was nearly 10% at an annual rate in the first quarter, after 2.5% in the fourth quarter.

Year over year growth was 8.2% in volume terms or 6.2% in terms of trade adjusted terms, far higher than in all Western countries. One possible source of worry was that the decline in the role of government spending slowed, but given the fact that it is far lower than in the West, that is of lesser importance from an economic point of view.

Meanwhile, mainland China revises up first quarter year over year growth from 10.2% to 10.3%.