Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Sunday said market sentiment has improved due to declining interest rates and measures to stabilise the economy, despite slower economic growth in the third quarter. In his weekly blog, Chan noted increased transactions in both the stock and property markets. "We expect that Hong Kong's economy will continue to maintain momentum for the rest of this year, with the full-year economic growth projected to be close to the lower end of the original forecast range," he wrote. The economy grew by 1.8 percent in the three months ending September on a year-on-year basis, compared with a 2.7 percent increase in the first quarter and a 3.3 percent growth in the April-to-June period. Officials are forecasting full-year growth of between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent. Chan also said the government will sign agreements with 17 more strategic enterprises – from the mainland, the US and Europe – on Monday to establish or expand their businesses here. These companies are involved in fields such as AI, big data and new energy, and 90 percent of them plan to set up headquarters in Hong Kong. Together with the first two batches of nearly 50 strategic enterprises, Chan said they will bring HK$42 billion in investment to Hong Kong and create more than 17,000 jobs.
