Hong Kong strong growth masks uneven recovery

Signs of recovery: Pedestrians walking on a promenade along Victoria Harbour. After declining for a record six quarters, Hong Kong’s GDP surged 7.8% in the first quarter from a year earlier. — AFP

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s economy posted its fastest growth in more than a decade in the first quarter, though the recovery is an uneven one led mainly by exports and held back by weak consumer spending and a slow vaccine rollout.

After declining for a record six quarters, gross domestic product surged 7.8% from a year earlier, advance data showed, beating all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.