Hong Kong millionaires dwindle

Hong Kong - The number of US dollar millionaires in Hong Kong has slumped by more than 60% as the global economic crisis hammered investment portfolios, a news report said on Friday.

The wealthy city of 7 million suffered the world's biggest percentage loss in numbers of US dollars millionaires last year, the South China Morning Post reported.

The number of Hong Kong people with at least 1 million US dollars in net assets, excluding their homes, fell 61% in 2008 to 37 000 compared to a global average fall of 19.5%.

Regionally, the number of US dollar millionaires in the Asia-Pacific region fell by 14.2%, less than the global average, according to figures drawn from an annual wealth report by Merrill Lynch.

Explaining Hong Kong's particularly sharp losses, analyst Ricky Tam told the newspaper: "A lot of local investors either put their money in the stock market or the property market.

"As the property market declines and the stock market declines, their net worth declines."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by almost 50% in 2008 but has rebounded strongly in the past two months amid signs of a slight economic recovery.

- Sapa-dpa