IMF Downgrades Hong Kong's Economic Growth ForecastThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) has significantly downgraded its growth forecast for Hong Kong to 3.5 percent from 4.8 percent this year amid a slowing global economy, according to Hong Kong's leading newspaper "South China Morning Post" Wednesday.China's outlook has been little affected by the global slowdown with an expected forecast of between seven percent and 7.5 percent growth, the newspaper quoted the bi-annual World Economic Outlook report as saying. Hong Kong IMF resident representative William Lee told the "South China Morning Post" that he could confirm the IMF would announce the downgrade this week. Lee could not confirm the number but said it was in the range of the reported 3.5 percent. He said the IMF report would show Hong Kong was better positioned than most other Asian economies to weather the global storm. The downgrade for Hong Kong and other Asian and global economies stems from a lightning-speed slide in the US after a decade of robust growth. As the US slows, so does export-reliant Asia, particularly as many regional economies are still implementing fiscal and banking reforms put in place after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Fears of a US recessionary period -- coupled with a weakening Japanese yen -- have led to a growing number of downgrade calls in recent weeks from regional investment banks. |
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