'Hong Kong's economy is now in extremely difficult times,' said the city's financial secretary Paul Chan.
Hong Kong is set to record its first budget deficit in 15 years, the city's finance chief warned Monday, as the business hub reels from the twin shocks of the trade war and seething democracy protests.
"At the end of the financial year, the SAR government will be in the red," Chan said, using an abbreviation for the Hong Kong government. Crowds are pushing for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability but the city's pro-Beijing leadership has refused any major political concessions. October is a crucial holiday period in China known as"Golden Week" when visitors from the mainland to Hong Kong usually spike and spend heavily.Protests are not the sole cause of Hong Kong's woes.
The city's budget usually ends the year in an enviable position and successive fat years have built up an impressive cushion.
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