The business confidence of Hong Kong's small and medium enterprises improved slightly in the third quarter, a survey shows. The Standard Chartered Hong Kong SME Leading Business Index, ganed by 3.6 points to 29.8 in the third quarter from the previous quarter. It is believed that the persistent global and local coronavirus epidemic, as well as Hong Kong becoming the focal point in the recent China-US trade conflict, will cast thorny shadow over SMEs’ business environment in future, said Edmond Lai, chief digital officer of Hong Kong Productivity Council. Kelvin Lau, senior economist of Standard Chartered Hong Kong, expects Hong Kong’s economy to drop by about 5 percent year-on-year in the second half. We think the steepest part of the rise in the unemployment rate is already behind us.

Source: The Standard August 27, 2020 06:11 UTC