Hong Kongers pin hopes on healthcare industry as economy weakens: survey

Residents believe it has higher growth potential over IT and e-commerce.

As third-quarter economic growth slowed further to 2.9%, a majority of Hong Kongers believe that the healthcare and medical services industry has the highest growth potential over the next three years, according to a survey by CPA Australia.

A third (36%) believe that the healthcare sector could lend support to weakening growth prospects over those that believe that innovation and technology (31%) and e-commerce (30%) is best-placed to prop up the economy against the expected downturn.

"With an ageing population and the longest life expectancy in the world, it is not surprising that most Hong Kong survey respondents considered healthcare and medical services as having the most potential for growth," Paul Ho, CPA Australia's Divisional President for Greater China said in a statement.

He adds that the shift towards innovation and technology, e-commerce and biomedicine as sectors with high growth potential signifies that Hong Kong is undergoing a transformation into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy.

Growth expectations for Hong Kong economy in 2019 fell amidst a dismal backdrop characterised by deepening US-China trade tensions, China’s decelerating growth and falling confidence in the city’s competitiveness. The number of Hong Kongers expecting the economy to grow by 2% or more fell from 62% to 48%.

The risks, however, are somewhat mitigated by increasing connectivity links such as the Greater Bay Area initiative. "The opening of new infrastructure to improve Hong Kong's connection to the rest of the Bay Area is clearly creating economic opportunities for Hong Kong, however infrastructure alone will not guarantee Hong Kong's success in the Greater Bay Area, talent is the bridge connecting the region with the world," added Ho.