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Apr exports value down 13%

The value of Hong Kong's total exports decreased to $338.3 billion in April, down 13% on the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.   The value of imports of goods decreased 11.9% to $374.9 billion for the same period.   A trade deficit of $36.6 billion, or 9.8% of the value of imports, was recorded in April.   Comparing the three-month period ending April with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of exports rose 15.4%, while that of imports increased 10.7%.   The Government noted that the value of merchandise exports declined further from a year earlier in April. Exports to the Mainland, the US and the European Union all shrank and exports to other major Asian markets recorded decreases of varying degrees.   Looking ahead, it added that the weakness in the advanced economies will continue to weigh on Hong Kong's export performance, though the expected faster recovery of the Mainland economy should

Welfare cases down 0.2%

The overall Comprehensive Social Security Assistance caseload dropped to 216,442 in January, down 0.2% from last December, the Social Welfare Department announced today.   The total number of recipients stood at 305,358.   Low-earnings cases remained steady at 2,216. Single parent cases and old age cases each dropped 0.4% to 23,678 and 123,667 respectively.   Unemployment cases decreased 0.2% to 18,453 compared with last month, although it represents an increase of about 46.6% compared with January 2020 when Hong Kong just started to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.   The average number of applications for unemployment cases in November 2021 to January 2022 was 479 per month, representing a slight increase of 2.1% from the October to December 2021 figure.   Ill-health cases increased 0.3% to 26,980, while the number of permanent disability cases was down 0.1%, recording 17,499 cases.
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