HK financial secretary hails investor confidence amid IPO market boom in 2025

China

HK financial secretary hails investor confidence amid IPO market boom in 2025

2026-01-04 17:47 Last Updated At：23:07

The strong performance in Hong Kong's stock market in 2025 mirrors its economic vitality and robust investor confidence, said Paul Chan Mo-po, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

In 2025, Hong Kong reclaimed the top spot in global IPO market rankings for the first time since 2019, with a total of over 280 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 36 billion U.S. dollars) raised - a surge of 224 percent year on year.

The year witnessed Hong Kong's stock market welcoming more than 110 new listings, a significant increase of over 60 percent from 2024.

"Facts and figures speak for themselves. When you look at IPO, this year [2025], we're global number one, I mean, the total fund raised [is] over 280 billion Hong Kong dollars. Actually in terms of IPO fundraising this year [2025] for Hong Kong, the total amount raised by us is more than New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ combined together in terms of IPO. That tells the strength," Chan said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).

The strong investor interest reflects a broader revival of confidence, according to the financial secretary.

"So when we look at the background of this investors, a lot of them are foreign institutions, institutional investors from U.S., from Europe, along with southbound investors from the mainland. So the capital flow tells that the international community remain very confident in our capital market," he said.

Hong Kong's economy is expected to grow by 3.2 percent year on year in 2025, marking the third consecutive year of expansion for the global financial hub, according to a blog post by Chan in late December 2025.

Looking ahead, Chan expected the upward momentum to continue into 2026, with finance, innovation and technology, and trade serving as key growth engines.

"Going into 2026, our country remains very strong in terms of its economic growth. The policy room is ample in terms of fiscal policy, financial policies, and also the technological advancement of the country has been very strong and the country is promoting private consumption as well. The export of the country to Global South, in particular Southeast Asia, would remain very strong. So all these [will] contribute to tremendous opportunities for Hong Kong's financial sector, trade as well as services sector," he said.

Global partnership launched in Beijing to fight poverty, promote development

The Global Partnership for Poverty Alleviation and Development (GPPAD) was officially launched on Wednesday at the ongoing 2026 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum in Beijing, according to an announcement made at the event.

Jointly initiated by China, 53 other countries, and nine international organizations, the GPPAD marks a milestone in global poverty-reduction efforts, the announcement said.

While encouraging members to pursue poverty-reduction and development strategies suited to their own conditions, the GPPAD will promote exchanges of experience in poverty reduction and governance, and jointly explore pathways to eradicate poverty at its roots, according to the announcement.

The partnership welcomes the participation of governments, international organizations, the private sector, academia and media institutions, to foster a fair, inclusive, non-discriminatory and sustainable development environment together, the announcement added.

Speaking at the forum, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong said that China will support the GPPAD in strengthening policy dialogue, technical demonstrations and talent training, to help developing countries build stronger poverty-reduction capacity.

Scholars and government officials hailed the importance of this global effort in reducing poverty.

"Today, you have the opportunity of countries coming together to say, in a way we failed, but we don't have to. We can work together through partnership to address issues that collectively as a globe, we said we would do eight years ago, whatever it is, 10 years ago, but have not done so. So it's importance is this opportunity, this celebration of working together, we can really achieve things," said Robert Walker, Professor of the School of Social Development and Public Policy of Beijing Normal University, who is also an Emeritus Fellow at Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford.

"Within this platform, we will have access to more knowledge, partnerships, and economic and social cooperation, allowing us to learn from the experience of China and other countries, so that we can accelerate the pace and make the commitment. The problem of poverty is a global problem for humanity, so the strategies for reducing it must also be global strategies, concerted strategies, that allow, first, to end hunger, drastically reducing the level of poverty by 2030," said Salimo Ismael Vala, Minister of Planning and Development of Mozambique.