Hong Kong’s economy has been hit hard by months of anti-government protests, as demonstrators battle police on the streets, schools and businesses have been forced to shut for days at a time and transport has been disrupted.
Tourists, whose dollars are an economic mainstay for the city, have stayed away. US-China trade tensions have taken their toll and many analysts predict the economic malaise will worsen. The government has forecast the city will experience its first annual recession since the global financial crisis in 2009.
The protests shows little sign of abating, with pro-democracy parties winning a landslide in local elections last Sunday — seen as evidence of broad support for the protest movement and a repudiation of the handling of the months-long political crisis by the government and Beijing.