Month: August 2026

Survey on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ Credit Conditions for Second Quarter 2026 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (August 3) the results of the Survey on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)’ Credit Conditions for the second quarter of 2026. According to the survey, SMEs’ credit conditions remained broadly stable.
      
     Regarding SMEs’ perception of banks’ credit approval stance relative to six months ago, excluding respondents who answered “no idea/don’t know”, 78 per cent perceived a “similar” or “easier” credit approval stance in the second quarter of 2026, up from 73 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 1 in the Annex). 22 per cent perceived a “more difficult” credit approval stance, compared to 27 per cent in the previous quarter. The perception of a more difficult credit approval stance may not necessarily reflect actual difficulties faced by SMEs in obtaining bank credit as the perception could be affected by a number of factors, such as media/news reports, business conditions and opinions of relatives and friends.
      
     Among respondents with existing credit lines, 4 per cent reported a “tighter” banks’ stance, up from 0 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 2 in the Annex). In this survey, a tighter stance on existing credit lines denotes a range of possible measures or arrangements, such as reducing unused and used credit lines, raising the interest rate, imposing additional collateral requirements, or shortening loan tenor. Therefore, respondents’ indication of banks’ stance on existing credit lines may not directly reflect banks’ supply of credit to SMEs.
      
     The survey also gauged the results of new credit applications from SMEs. 3 per cent of the respondents reported that they had applied for new bank credit during the second quarter of 2026. Among the respondents who had already known their application outcomes, 85 per cent reported fully or partially successful applications, down from 91 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 3 in the Annex).
      
     Owing to small sample sizes of SMEs with existing credit lines (15 per cent of surveyed SMEs) and with new credit applications (3 per cent of surveyed SMEs) during the quarter, the results could be prone to large fluctuations, and hence should be interpreted with care.

About Survey on SMEs’ Credit Conditions
      
     In light of the importance of SMEs to the Hong Kong economy and concerns about potential funding difficulties facing SMEs over the past few years, the HKMA has appointed the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to carry out this survey, starting from the third quarter of 2016. This survey is conducted on a quarterly basis, covering about 2 500 SMEs from different economic sectors each time. The results of this survey can help monitor the development of SMEs’ access to bank credit from a demand-side perspective.
      
     The results of this survey should be interpreted with caution. Similar to other opinion surveys, views collected in this survey may be affected by changes in sentiment due to idiosyncratic events that occurred over the survey period, which can make the results prone to fluctuations. Readers are advised to interpret the results together with other economic and financial information. In addition, views collected are limited to the expected direction of inter-quarter changes (e.g. “tighter”, “no change” or “easier”) without providing information about the magnitude of these changes.
      
     Detailed tables and technical information of this survey are published on the website of the HKPC (smecc.hkpc.orgIssued at HKT 16:30

Labour Department investigates fatal work accident in Kowloon City 
     The LD immediately deployed staff to the scene upon receiving a report of the accident, and is now conducting an investigation to look into its cause.
Issued at HKT 15:55

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Hong Kong Customs detects two smuggling cases of live turtles of scheduled endangered species      ​
     Through risk assessment, Customs on the abovementioned days examined one inbound consignment declared as containing statues and decorative ornaments, and two inbound consignments declared as containing mugs and other steins. After inspection, Customs officers found a batch of live turtles of a scheduled endangered species wrapped in plastic and concealed in socks inside the consignments.

     Customs officers subsequently conducted controlled delivery operations and arrested two recipients of the consignments including a 33-year-old local male and a 65-year-old local male. The arrested persons have been released on bail pending further investigation. The investigation is ongoing.Issued at HKT 15:52

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Incoming passenger convicted and jailed for possession of duty-not-paid cigarettes (with photo)      
     Customs officers intercepted a 27-year-old incoming Mainland male passenger at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (August 2) and seized 28 000 duty-not-paid cigarettes, with an estimated market value of $126,000 and a duty potential of about $92,500, from his personal baggage. The passenger was subsequently arrested.
      
     Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences.
      
     Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, cigarettes are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
      
     Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hkIssued at HKT 15:25

CCIDA sponsors industry to participate in 23rd China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference  
     The Hong Kong Pavilion at the ChinaJoy Expo was sponsored by CCIDA for the second consecutive year. This year’s participating works cover a wide range of genres including action, adventure, simulation, strategy and role-playing, fully demonstrating the creative strengths of Hong Kong’s game industry. The pavilion also featured activities such as trials of original Hong Kong games, on-site networking with game developers, and IP business-matching sessions, enhancing interactions and exchanges between the industry and visitors. The participation in the ChinaJoy Expo not only promoted the exceptional creativity and capabilities of Hong Kong’s digital entertainment industry to the Chinese Mainland market, but also deepened exchanges and co-operation in the digital entertainment sector between the two places, and helped the industry expand its commercial and trade networks. Following the Expo, GameDEVA also organised a delegation to visit leading game enterprises in Shanghai, fostering meaningful exchanges between the industries of the two places.
 
     In recent years, Hong Kong’s digital entertainment industry has achieved breakthrough growth, with the overall market size reaching about HK$20 billion. Currently, there are more than 200 game-related companies in Hong Kong, and about 50 locally developed games are officially launched each year. With the continued support of CCIDA, Hong Kong’s game industry has been accelerating its integration into the Chinese Mainland and global markets, demonstrating its profound strengths and development potential.
 
     Jointly guided by the National Press and Publication Administration, as well as the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and organised by the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, the ChinaJoy Expo is the largest digital interactive entertainment event on the Chinese Mainland. For more information about the ChinaJoy Expo and the Hong Kong Pavilion, please visit en.chinajoy.netIssued at HKT 15:25

Planned system enhancement for the Faster Payment System on August 9                                             
     The Faster Payment System (FPS) service will be unavailable from 1am to 11am on August 9 (Sunday) due to a planned system enhancement, being carried out by the Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited, the operator of the FPS. 
      
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has requested banks and stored value facility (SVF) operators to provide advance and timely notifications to their customers. Members of the public may contact individual banks or SVF operators for more details regarding the availability of the related FPS services that may be affected by the system enhancement. If necessary, members of the public may make advance arrangements for their payment activities. 
Issued at HKT 15:15

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Temporary closure of park east of Fan Kam Road