2009 Hong Kong economy background
Hong Kong embraces globalization of trade and services and is an active participant in international organizations. When countering the global financial tsunami and the ensuing global recession, the Hong Kong economy exhibited much resilience. Although the economy contracted severely in the first quarter of 2009 amid the global-wide plunge in trade, it quickly rebounded in the second quarter and continued to improve in the rest of the year, along with other Asian economies, particularly the Mainland, which took the lead in the global recovery process. The momentum picked up further in the fourth quarter, marked by a distinct acceleration in GDP growth on a quarter-to-quarter basis, leading to the return to positive year-on-year growth at 2.6%. For 2009 as a whole, the economy contracted by 2.7%, the first annual recession since 1998.
Merchandise trade was the most severely hit segment and the key drag on the economy for most of the year, with improvement only emerging towards the year-end.