Quotes from Standard Chartered:
-Hong Kong will announce Q4-2014 GDP and the budget for FY16 (year ending 31 March 2016) on 25 February. We expect headline GDP growth to have slowed to 1.8% y/y from 2.7% in Q3 as mass political protests hurt consumer sentiment and retail sales. Trade growth has also been lacklustre, partly reflecting softening demand from China.
-Hong Kong's fiscal position is likely to remain healthy - we expect the government to project a HKD 40bn surplus for the current fiscal year (ending in March 2015) and another for FY16, mainly on the back of strong direct tax receipts and property-related revenue. We expect the government to scale back one-off concessions further and replace them with more permanent spending on social welfare.
