Hong Kong’s service sector will be the part of economy that sees “the biggest rebound” as borders reopen, UBP told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
However, it warned that the sector is coming “from a very fragile situation,” given its contraction in every quarter of 2022.
“We can’t exclude the possibility of further insolvencies or bankruptcies … even as things do look to improve in the months ahead,” said Carlos Casanova, UBP’s senior economist for Asia.
The latest figures from the Hong Kong government also showed the city’s economy contracted by 4.2% in its fourth quarter, the fourth-straight quarter of declines. Real GDP also shrank by 3.5% year-on-year.
“That contraction was much faster than we had anticipated, our forecast was -2.8%,” Casanova added.
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However, the economist was optimistic that Hong Kong’s economy should be “in…
