HONG KONG, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong will surely benefit from the country's pledge to promote sustained and healthy social and economic development, as the outlook for the mainland economy next year is far more positive than that of other major economies, a senior Hong Kong official said here on Monday.

Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said the local economy had deteriorated due to the COVID-19 pandemic when addressing a panel meeting of the Legislative Council on Monday.

He pointed out that the global economy will improve significantly from the second half of next year, as effective vaccines are widely expected to be available by then, but warned of uncertainties due to varied epidemic control efforts and economic recovery paces around the world.

If the global economy continues to improve next year, Hong Kong's economy is expected to return to positive growth in 2021, he said, adding that the speed and strength of the recovery are influenced by a number of internal and external factors.