Reuters, HONG KONGThe Hong Kong economy’s first recession in a decade deepened in the fourth quarter of last year, weighed down by often violent anti-government protests and the US-China trade dispute, advanced estimates showed yesterday. The economy shrank by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in October to December from the previous quarter, versus a revised 3.0 percent in July to September. On an annual basis, the economy contracted 2.9 percent, compared with a revised 2.8 percent in the third quarter. For the whole of last year, real GDP contracted by 1.2 percent, the first annual decline since 2009. Months of unrest last year in Hong Kong plunged the financial and trading hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
