Hong Kong economy grows 3.3% In Q2

Hong Kong's economy saw modest growth in the Q2 of 2013, rising 3.3% in real terms over a year earlier, official data showed Saturday. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, real gross domestic product expanded by 0.8 % in the second quarter, up from the 0.2 % growth in the preceding quarter, according to the Half-yearly Economic Report 2013 released by the Department of Statistics and Census of the city government of Hong Kong. Hong Kong registered a year-on-year growth rate of 2.9 % in January-March period.  Against the backdrop, the government revised up its economic growth forecast for 2013 to 2.5 to 3.5 % from 1.5 to 3.5 %. Domestic sector remained the key economic growth driver, with domestic spending growing steadily in the sector. Private consumption expenditure rose by 4.2 % year on year in the second quarter and government consumption expenditure grew by 3.1 %. The uncertainties in the external environment, the second quarter's 3.3 % growth rate is not bad and that Hong Kong is on course to meet the revised target.  Due to a challenging external environment in the second quarter, exports of goods grew by 6.2 % in real terms year on year, slower than the 8.8 % growth in the first quarter. Data showed exports to the United States, EU and Japan continued to post moderate year-on-year declines in Q2. Moreover, exports to the major Asian markets including the Chinese mainland, China's Taiwan and Singapore also showed some slowdown. Exports of services fared visibly better and picked up further to an 8.1 % year-on-year growth in real terms in Q2, up from the 5.3 % growth in the Q1. The labor market remained in a state of full employment. In the Q2, total employment increased further to another new high, pushing the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down to 3. 3 %, from 3.5 % in the Q1. The implicit price deflator of GDP, as a broad measure of overall inflation in the economy, increased by 0.7 % in the Q2 over a year earlier, compared with the increase of 1.4 % in the Q1.