Hong Kong  - Half of Hong Kong businesses expect the city's recession to drag on for at least two years, according to a survey Saturday.

Ninety per cent of businessmen and businesswomen said they believed the recession would last through 2009 while half said they expected it to continue through 2010 and beyond.

Andrew Brandler, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce which conducted the survey among its members, called on the government to help businesses in the city survive the downturn.

Hong Kong officially went into recession in November as its economy recorded a second consecutive quarter of GDP contraction, the city's first recession since the SARS crisis of 2003.

The former British colony's stock market has fallen around 20,000 points from a peak of nearly 32,000 in October 2007 and has lost 40 per cent of its value since late September. (dpa)