HK economy falls into recession in Q3

HONG KONG—The weak global economy has pushed Hong Kong into a recession as GDP figures showed a third-quarter contraction, the second straight quarterly decline.

The Hong Kong government said Friday that exports dropped off sharply toward the end of the quarter “amid an increasingly austere global economic environment.”

The government said the economy grew 4.3 percent in the third quarter. That’s smaller than the revised 5.1 percent growth in the second quarter, which was itself less than the 7.5 percent expansion notched up in the first quarter.

Some economists define a recession as two straight quarters of economic contraction while others say it’s a significant decline in across-the-board economic activity lasting more than a year.