As the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar, interest rates between the two currencies are closely linked.
The chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Norman Chan, says Hong Kong dollar inter bank rates will rise gradually.
"The normalization of Hong Kong's interest rate will begin with the outflow of funds from the Hong Kong dollar trigger by high interest rates of the US dollar. Given that the pace of US interest rate hikes would likely to be gradual and we have a very big cushion of close to $1.6 trillion HK dollars in our monetary base, we presently expect the rise in Hong Kong dollar inter bank interest rates to be incremental."
George Leung, the Advisor in Strategy and Economics with HSBC Asia Pacific, says a strong US dollar has already affected Hong Kong's economy.
"We have seen a relatively slow economic growth this year, which is to a large extent attributed to the weak performance in our foreign trade."
Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang, meanwhile, has warned investors to be aware of possible asset market volatility in the wake of the US rate hike.
"There might be an outflow of capital from Hong Kong, but we have a sound economic base and well-established financial systems, so we are able to handle large-scale capital flow. The Government will closely monitor changes in the external environment and maintain stability in the local financial and labor markets."
Experts predict that Hong Kong's property market would cool down following the rate hike, however, some major banks in Hong Kong have not announced interest rate hikes so far, including HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China.
It means that their customers will not see an immediate rise in mortgage or deposit rates.
For CRI, this is Li Jing in Hong Kong.
