But Hong Kong, famous for its entrepreneurial spirit, and for recovering from all kinds of past crises, is fighting back.

“We are restructuring the Hong Kong economy to deal with the challenges,” Mr Leung said in an interview with The Banker, fDi’s sister publication.

The Hong Kong government plans to:

- boost Hong Kong’s role as a financial centre and promote tourism;

- push the introduction of new technology;

- improve skills and training and English language proficiency;

- further develop relations between the Special Administrative Region of China, as Hong Kong is known, and the mainland including negotiating a free trade agreement and improving physical links.

“If we lay the foundations, then market forces will take over. It is a very flexible economy,” said Mr Leung.