Financial stability a priority for Hong Kong: finance secretary

Chan expects more support from mainland China as the latter’s economy recovers.

Hong Kong places priority in maintaining its financial stability amidst ongoing challenges in the external environment, Financial Secretary Paul Chan told reporters during the Asian Financial Forum.

Chan shared that he observed a “more optimistic” business sentiment in Hong Kong with the reopening of the boundary. 

Chan also expects Mainland China’s economy to post a strong recovery to be strong, which in turn is expected to provide support to Hong Kong.

“We expect the Mainland’s economic recovery will be pretty strong, particularly in the second half of the year, and this will provide strong support to Hong Kong and also cushion some of the external headwinds,” Chan said.

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“Overall, we do think that we should be more optimistic in terms of the economic outlook for 2023,” he said.

Chan noted the challenging external environment, citing interest rate hikes and continued tightening of monetary conditions by central banks globally.

“Some of the developed economies, for example, those economies in the EU [European Union], are not doing very well - so external demand is weak and the financial market may be more volatile,” he said.