Hong Kong jobless rate seen higher on weaker export sector: Bank of East Asia

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Bank of East Asia economist Paul Tang said he expects the unemployment rate to rise further over the short term as the impact of an economic slowdown in the U.S. becomes more apparent in the local export sector.	    Tang said the spike of the jobless rate during the January-March and December-February period mainly came from the domestic demand-oriented sector.	   "We expect things will get worse as the export sector gets hit more seriously on weaker demand from the U.S.," Tang said.	    The government said the jobless rate for the January-March period rose to 4.6 pct from 4.5 pct in the December-February period.	    The jobless level was 4.3 pct in the November to January period.	    "It is still hard to say whether the total of 2 percentage points in interest rate cuts so far this year by the Federal Reserve will keep the U.S. economy from deteriorating," Tang said.	    "I am concerned about the impact on the export sector as U.S. demand further slows," he said.	    While Tang did not give a target for the jobless rate, he said his bank has lowered its forecast of Hong Kong GDP growth to 3.5 pct from the previous estimate of 4.0 pct. 

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