Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan published a blog post reviewing Hong Kong's economy in the first quarter of this year.

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On April 5, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Paul Chan Mo-po, published a blog post summarizing Hong Kong’s economy in the first quarter of 2026. Chan said that with the first quarter of 2026 now behind us, global conditions remain complex and changeable, and the shadow of conflicts in the Middle East continues to weigh on market sentiment. Dragged down by external factors, Hong Kong’s stock market saw a pullback; the Hang Seng Index is down by about 2% year to date, but trading remains active. In the first two months, average daily trading value exceeded HK$260 billion, up 17% year on year. Entering March, market activity was even stronger: the average daily trading value of Hong Kong stocks exceeded HK$300 billion, up more than 8% compared with the same period last year. This reflects that amid uncertainty, investors are increasing their allocation of assets here. Besides seeing Hong Kong as a reliable safe haven for capital, this is also due to stable and growing economic performance on the mainland, as well as a large number of high-quality companies listing in Hong Kong, providing them with ample investment opportunities.

The full text is as follows:

With the first quarter of 2026 now behind us, global conditions remain complex and changeable, and the shadow of conflicts in the Middle East continues to weigh on market sentiment. Dragged down by external factors, the local stock market saw a pullback; the Hang Seng Index is down by about 2% year to date, but trading remains active. In the first two months, average daily trading value exceeded HK$300B, up 17% year on year. Entering March, market activity was even stronger: the average daily trading value of Hong Kong stocks exceeded HK$260B, up more than 8% compared with the same period last year. This reflects that amid uncertainty, investors are increasing their allocation of assets here. Besides seeing Hong Kong as a reliable safe haven for capital, this is also due to stable and growing economic performance on the mainland, as well as a large number of high-quality companies listing in Hong Kong, providing them with ample investment opportunities.

Meanwhile, global competition in cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence has entered an intense phase. From breakthroughs in core technologies, to the development of upstream and downstream segments of industrial chains, to the exploration of even broader application scenarios, all of this requires substantial funding support. Whether relevant companies and industries can secure smooth, stable, sustained, and efficient financing is crucial. Hong Kong’s listing platform is playing a key role in this regard—contributing to the country’s technological development and the building of a modern industrial system, while also attracting global capital to converge on these future industries.

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Taking new share listings as an example, the IPO market in Hong Kong remained strong this year in the first quarter. As of March 27, the amount raised had already exceeded HK$103 billion, ranking first globally. Together with subsequent fundraising and other activities, the total fund-raising scale is about HK$237 billion. More importantly, an increasing share of companies coming to list in Hong Kong are emerging industries—such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics, autonomous driving, biotechnology, and so on. Currently, the number of listing applications awaiting approval for Hong Kong has exceeded 500 cases. It can be said that when the external environment becomes even more uncertain, more companies view Hong Kong as an important window for financing and for “going global” development.

For years, Hong Kong’s financial markets have contributed to the country’s reform and opening-up and economic development. We are pursuing a “finance plus” strategy to support the country’s development of “new quality productive forces” and actively contribute to building a modern industrial system. Recently, Hong Kong has again been confirmed as one of the world’s top three international financial centers, with a score closely matching the top two—New York and London. This shows that the sustained development of the mainland economy, along with the strong support the country provides to Hong Kong, is the greatest underpinning for Hong Kong’s position as an international financial center.

With solid performance in the financial markets, the local real economy also improved overall in the first quarter, and some sectors even recorded notable achievements.

On exports, benefiting from the global rebound in demand for electronic products and the reshuffling of regional production and supply chains, the value of merchandise exports in the first two months rose by nearly 30% year on year, which is a strong performance. This reflects that although the external trade environment still has uncertainties, Hong Kong’s role as a trade hub remains solid.

These days, it is the Easter holiday. While many residents travel abroad, judging from the overall trend, the foundation for the recovery of the retail market is already quite evident. In the first two months of this year, the total value of retail sales rose 11.8% year on year, marking the tenth consecutive month of growth, and the growth rate has accelerated noticeably compared with the fourth quarter of last year. This is not only due to increased spending on high-end products. Household items, clothing, and other livelihood categories have also shown a rebound, indicating that local consumer confidence is gradually expanding in a more positive direction.

Online sales have also been booming: in the first two months, they surged 27.5% year on year. This shift in consumption patterns is driving the growth of digital support industries such as electronic payments, logistics, and data analytics, injecting fresh momentum into the retail ecosystem.

The labor market has remained stable. The unemployment rate edged down to 3.8%. Employment in the retail and catering industries improved, overall employment income continued to rise, and with improved sentiment in the stock market and the residential property market as well, all of this provides support for local consumption.

April 5, 2026