Positive sentiment marks a sharp rebound from last year, when fewer than one in five companies in an annual survey expressed optimism
Hong Kong companies are much more optimistic about the economic outlook for the coming year, a survey by one of the city’s biggest business chambers has found, although the organisation itself expects growth to slow in 2026.
The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce released the results of its annual survey on Thursday, showing that 48.3 per cent of respondents were upbeat on the business outlook for the coming 12 months.
The positive sentiment marks a sharp rebound from last year’s survey, when only 18.3 per cent of companies expressed optimism over the city’s economic prospects.
The chamber forecast that the city’s real gross domestic product growth will ease to 2.7 per cent in 2026 from an estimated 3.2 per cent this year.
The 3.2 per cent figure matches the government’s forecast, which was recently revised upwards from the previous 2 to 3 per cent increase.
Chamber chairwoman Agnes Chan Sui-kuen said: “Companies are definitely more optimistic than last year, when [US] President [Donald] Trump was threatening to raise tariffs, which created a lot of uncertainties for businesses.”