HONG KONG, Jan. 28: Hong Kong saw the value of total exports of goods rose by 7.3 percent in 2018 over 2017, statistics showed on Monday.

The value of imports of goods increased by 8.4 percent in 2018, according to the Census and Statistics Department of the government of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

This resulted in a trade deficit of 563.3 billion HK dollars (72.22 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, equivalent to 11.9 percent of the value of imports of goods.

A government spokesman said thanks to the strong performance in the earlier part of the year, the value of merchandise exports and imports both rose notably in 2018 as a whole.

But in December 2018, the values of Hong Kong’s total exports and imports of goods both recorded year-on-year decreases, at 5.8 percent and 7 percent respectively.

A visible trade deficit of 51.2 billion HK dollars, equivalent to 13.1 percent of the value of imports of goods, was recorded in December 2018.

Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the preceding quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of total exports of goods decreased by 3.2 percent, and the value of imports of goods decreased by 5.1 percent.

(Xinhua/RSS)