HONG KONG: Hong Kong's economy shrank in the first quarter from the final quarter of 2015, hit by falling exports and weak consumer spending, with the risk that momentum will slow further. On the doorstep of the world’s second-largest economy, Hong Kong has been buffeted by China’s slowdown. A slump in visitors from the mainland, weak retail sales and falling asset prices have combined to put the economy on the verge of recession. The trade-dependent economy contracted 0.4 per cent in the first quarter, the first contraction in nearly two years. On an annual basis, growth was just 0.8 per cent in the first quarter, its weakest pace in four years. It was worse than economists' expectations for 1.48 per cent growth and less than half the pace of the fourth quarter.