**The economy of Hong Kong has emerged from recession, posting growth of 3.3% in the three months from April to June.**The seasonally adjusted figures were better than had been expected and the government has raised its forecast for growth in the whole year.
It followed the emergence from recession of Singapore, which grew an annualised 20.7% in the second quarter.
The figure for the first three months has been revised from a contraction of 7.8% to a contraction of 4.3%.
The government was previously expecting the economy to contract by between 5.5% and 6.5% and is now predicting a contraction of between 3.5% and 4.5%.
Economic growth is measured by gross domestic product (GDP).
“The GDP data was much better than we expected, partly because the exports were better and partly because of a pick-up in private consumption,” said Paul Tang, chief economist at Bank of East Asia.
“Private consumption is being driven up by stock market gains and by the property sector, which started doing well.”