Hong Kong's economy is expected to grow 2 to 3 percent in 2025, the financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Wednesday.
While delivering the 2025-26 budget at the HKSAR's Legislative Council, Paul Chan said that Hong Kong's economy progressed steadily amid a complicated and changing environment in 2024. While its economy is making steady progress, the country has rolled out measures benefiting Hong Kong one by one.
Together with the HKSAR government's initiatives to boost the economy and interest rate cuts by the United States since mid-September, they all provided support to different economic segments in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's economy recorded a moderate growth of 2.5 percent in 2024, Chan said.
Considering factors including the continued stable growth of the mainland economy, the country's domestic and international circulation, expansion of high-standard opening-up, and the gradual easing of monetary policies by major central banks, Chan expected that Hong Kong's economy will grow, on average, 2.9 percent a year in real terms from 2026 to 2029.
Hong Kong's economy expected to grow 2 to 3 pct in 2025
China has established more than 5,500 green mines at or above the provincial level, marking positive progress in the country's green mining development, an official from the Ministry of Natural Resources said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday ahead of this year's World Earth Day.
According to Dong Qingji, deputy director general of the Ministry of Natural Resources' department of mineral resources protection and supervision, green mining requirements have been written into the Mineral Resources Law and the Ecological Environment Code, providing strong legal backing. A working system featuring government guidance, departmental coordination, enterprise leadership and public supervision is now largely in place.
China is accelerating the construction of green mines and will organize the selection of a new batch of national-level green mines. Currently, there are over 1,000 national-level green mines and more than 4,500 provincial-level green mines in the country.
Looking ahead, the ministry will continue to promote the construction and operation of all newly built mines in accordance with green mine standards, while speeding up the green transformation and upgrading of existing operating mines. For mines that have not yet initiated green transition, they are required to launch green mine construction as soon as possible, fulfill their obligations for ecological restoration in mining areas, and strengthen ecological restoration and governance in these areas.
China builds over 5,500 green mines, advances sustainable mining
