Top Hong Kong Officials Paint Bleak Economic Picture

Two of Hong Kong's top officials on Sunday painted a bleak picture of the local economy in light of the anti-government protests and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Writing on his blog, the Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said people had been calling for unlawful assemblies just as the coronavirus epidemic appeared to be easing here. He said overseas investors would still be put off if public security and the rule of law were threatened, regardless of how much money the government pumped into the economy to revive it.

Cheung also said the protests increased the chance of Covid-19 spreading in the community.

Meanwhile the Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the local economy could see its worst year since the sixties, possibly shrinking by as much as seven percent, as the epidemic hit overseas markets.

Writing on his blog, Chan said there were a few days to go before some of the anti-epidemic measures could be relaxed, though he cautioned that the global pandemic had yet to subside.