Hong Kong businesses fear protests will push economy into recession

Amid mass demonstrations and a trade war, financial observers say the city's slowdown could deepen

Hong Kong is a free marketer's dream. The tiny island has a GDP bigger than many industrialised countries, low tax and abundant cheap labour, and is a world-class financial centre boasting a stock market with a total value of more than 2.5tn.

No wonder then that the city's most powerful vested interests are showing signs of nerves after 11 weeks of street protests that have paralysed the city, prompting its biggest political crisis since the handover to China in 1997 and threatening to push it into recession. Even worse, some observers believe the standoff could destroy Hong Kong's cherished entrepot status and send it on a journey of no return into China's orbit.

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The bigger concern is more to do with Hong Kong's image as a stable business environment"