Across China: Hong Kong

Mild passenger growth

Hong Kong air passenger traffic saw a mild growth of 4.1 percent in April, the Airport Authority said.

The mild passenger growth was mainly stimulated by a rise in local residents' travel during the Easter holidays. Resident traffic saw a 40 percent year-on-year increase in the month, while overall visitor traffic fell 9 percent amid the economic downturn.

In contrast, air cargo traffic contracted prominently in exports to all major markets, down 27 percent year on year. Imports also shrank 16 percent, with cargo volumes from South East Asia and Japan dropping the most.

GDP declines 7.8%

Hong Kong's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) declined 7.8 percent in the first quarter, the sharpest decline since the third quarter of 1998, according to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

After the seasonal adjustment, the GDP in the first quarter dropped 4.3 percent, compared with the fourth quarter of last year. It is also estimated that the SAR's GDP would contract by 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent for the whole year, said John Tsang, the Financial Secretary.

(China Daily 05/25/2009 page5)