Chart of the Day: Shenzhen Overtakes Hong Kong

Four decades ago it was a fishing village — but today the Guangdong province metropolis of Shenzhen has grown to be worth 2.42 trillion yuan ($363.6 billion), making it a whisker bigger than the neighboring trade port of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has been hit hard by the U.S.-China trade war, and saw its gross domestic product grow 3% to HK$2.85 trillion ($363 billion) last year, according to the annual budget revealed by Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday.

Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department put the exchange rate for the year at HK$1.1855 to the yuan. By that measure the city’s economy was worth 2.40 trillion yuan, 22.1 billion yuan less than Shenzhen.

Shenzhen reported (link in Chinese) economic growth of 7.6% early February.

Chan said brewing trade tensions had weakened global growth in the second half last year. “External pressures” caused Hong Kong’s economy to grow 1.3% last quarter, its slowest pace since 2016, and outbound shipments declined 0.2% for the same period.

Meanwhile in Shenzhen, output from companies with annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations rose by 9.5% to 911 billion yuan in 2018, led by advanced and high-tech manufacturing.

Contact reporter Tang Ziyi (ziyitang@caixin.com)