Hong Kong's economy expanded at a faster pace in the December quarter, figures published by the Census and Statistics Department revealed Wednesday.

Financial Secretary John Tsang in his budget speech said toady that the economy will likely grow between 3 percent and 4 percent in the whole of 2014.

Gross domestic product (GDP), in real terms, increased 3 percent annually in the fourth quarter. This followed a 2.8 percent expansion in the September quarter, which was revised down fro m 2.9 percent.

The expenditure side break-up revealed that both private consumption and government consumption gained 3.2 percent each year-on-year. At the same time, gross domestic fixed capital formation grew by 5.3 percent.

Data showed that Hong Kong's merchandise exports recorded a 5.8 percent annual growth in the fourth quarter. Imports increased by 6.5 percent.

Quarter-over-quarter, the economy expanded a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent at the end of last year. In the whole of 2013, GDP increased 2.9 percent over the prior year.

The government expects the economy to expand between 3 percent and 4 percent this year, which is lower than the average annual growth rate of 4.5 percent over the past decade.

Consumer price inflation for is expected to average 4.6 percent during the year, and underlying inflation at 3.7 percent.

RTTNews