Hong Kong's economic growth moderated in the first quarter as merchandise exports decelerated markedly, preliminary figures from the Census and Statistics Department showed Friday.

Gross domestic product advanced 2.5 percent from last year, slower than the revised 2.9 percent expansion seen in the fourth quarter. The annual rate was also below the expected 2.9 percent.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, real GDP grew slightly by 0.2 percent in the first quarter, after a 0.9 percent increase in the preceding quarter.

Exports of goods rose only 0.5 percent annually. Despite a high base of comparison a year ago, private consumption expenditure climbed 2 percent. Investment gained moderately, by 3 percent, mainly driven by the surge in building and construction expenditure.

The government also released its first quarter Economic Report 2014. Consumer price inflation eased slightly to 4.2 percent in the first quarter. The government today maintained headline inflation for 2014 at 4.6 percent.

Netting out the effects of the government's relief measures, underlying consumer price inflation edged down to 3.8 percent from 4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The GDP growth forecast of 3-4 percent for 2014, as announced in the Budget, is maintained in the current round of review. Domestic demand is forecast to stay steady.

The outlook for the global economy should hopefully brighten up in the rest of the year. This should provide ground for somewhat faster growth of the Hong Kong economy in the latter part of this year, government economist, Helen Chan said.

RTTNews