Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po (right) meets with Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of the World Bank Group Yang Shaolin as a member of the Chiense delegation at the 2023 Annual Meetings of the International MOnetary Fund and the WBG in Marrakech, Morocco on Oct 13, 2023. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

HONG KONG – Hong Kong is seeing a steady economic recovery, with a rapid increase in visitor arrivals, after opening up in January in the wake of the pandemic, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.

Chan made the statement while attending the 2023 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Marrakech, Morocco on Friday as a member of the Chinese delegation.

Chan stressed the advantages of the successful implementation and long-term adherence to the "one country, two systems" principle in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Chan met with Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Li Bo, Managing Director and Chief Administrative Officer of the WBG Yang Shaolin, and Asia and Pacific Department Director of the IMF Krishna Srinivasan.

They exchanged views on such issues as the global economic situation, international geopolitical landscape, responding to climate change, green finance, and fintech development.

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Chan stressed the advantages of the successful implementation and long-term adherence to the "one country, two systems" principle in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the new opportunities brought by the development of finance and innovative technology, including the new developments in green technology and green finance.

He provided an overview of the development of Hong Kong's digital economy and financial technology, and the policy measures in attracting strategic enterprises and talent.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po (first right) meets with Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Li Bo (first left) as a member of the Chiense delegation at the 2023 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Marrakech, Morocco on Oct 13, 2023. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

Hong Kong will also host several major international financial forums and a series of tourism events in the coming months, welcoming representatives from various countries to come to Hong Kong and experience its extraordinary charm firsthand, Chan said.

Hong Kong saw over 20 million visitor arrivals from January to August this year, according to tourism officials.

Benefiting from the peak season of summer holidays, the city also recorded preliminary visitor arrivals of about 4.1 million for August, representing a 14 percent month-on-month increase.

HKSAR government economists earlier said that they expected the city’s economy to grow by 4 percent to 5 percent this year.

Chan was scheduled to meet with representatives of central banks and senior executives of international financial institutions attending the Annual Meetings on Saturday and will be back in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon.