SIMIC

The economy shrank by 9.1 per cent in the first three months of the year.

The government blamed the second-quarter drop to the continued weak performance in both domestic and external demand.

In the three-month period ending June, private consumption decreased a record 14.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2019. That's worse than the 10.6 per cent decline in the first quarter and the biggest drop ever.

A government spokesman said overall economic conditions in the city were very weak in the second quarter of 2020, as the Covid-19 crisis continued to severely hit global and local activities.

"The Covid-19 pandemic will remain a key threat to the global economic outlook," the spokesman said.

"Locally, the recent surge in Covid-19 cases has clouded the near-term outlook for domestic economic activity.

"Nonetheless, once the local epidemic is contained again and the external environment continues to improve, the Hong Kong economy hopefully will gradually recover in the rest of the year."

The government had earlier forecast that full-year GDP would shrink by anywhere between 4 and 7 per cent.

Total exports in the second quarter saw a decline of 2.1 per cent in real terms year on year. That's an improvement from the 9.7 per cent plunge in the first quarter. Imports dropped by 6.8 per cent, compared with the decline of 11.1 per cent in the first three months of the year.