Hong Kong's finance chief Paul Chan forecasts first-quarter GDP growth exceeding 4%, the strongest in nearly five years, driven by a 17% rise in visitors and 5.2% gain in retail and catering spending. The preliminary figure is due on Tuesday.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his Sunday blog that despite a complex and rapidly changing external environment, the city's economy continued to improve in scale and quality, supported by stronger private consumption, solid exports and fixed investment.
"The first-quarter gross domestic product forecast to be released this week is expected to accelerate further from the revised 4 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of last year, marking the strongest quarterly growth in nearly five years," he said.
Chan noted that 602,000 visitors entered Hong Kong in the first two days of mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” break, a 6 per cent rise year on year. Visitor numbers for the first three months of 2026 rose 17 per cent to more than 14.3 million, a post-pandemic quarterly high.
Retail and catering spending gained 5.2 per cent in the period, fuelling the projected growth. The preliminary GDP figure is due on Tuesday.
