Hong Kong recession deepens

HONG KONG yesterday announced the worst third-quarter fall in economic growth on record. The bad news from this once resilient economy underlines the turnaround in the fortunes of the Asian countries, which were once considered as `Tiger' economies and Tiger cub economies. With just two exceptions, all the Tigers are now in recession.

Hong Kong, which reported a third-quarter economic contraction of 7 per cent, is predicting a 5 per cent fall for the full year, making it the second worst performing of the former Tiger economies. South Korea, facing its worst recession since the end of the civil war, is likely to see its economy decline by 7 per cent. Even Singapore has technically slumped into recession as third-quarter economic growth declined by 0.7 per cent. Of the four former Tigers only Taiwan still has a growing economy.