According to the South China Morning Post , many locals were concerned that the Hong Kong dollar would plummet after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the district had lost its autonomy. Recently, US President Donald Trump also said the White House will remove trade incentives for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong officials insist the Hong Kong dollar remains the cornerstone of the city’s financial system. The special zone also has more than $ 440 billion in foreign exchange reserves. The government also stressed that there was no sign of capital outflowing from the local banking system.

However, over the past few days, there have been many people lining up at money changers on the Mekong peninsula to buy and store dollars. Mr. Eric Wong Wai-lam, owner of a money exchange shop in Sham Shui Po, had to reject up to 600 customers on May 29 because he ran out of USD.

"Our mark will only have dollars on Tuesday or Wednesday next week," he said. Mr. Wong said the demand for exchange of USD soared 10 times this week. Many customers want to exchange hundreds of thousands, even millions of Hong Kong dollars into USD.

“Every brand runs out of dollars. We sold the last flyer, "he said. In addition to the dollar, Hong Kong residents also buy sterling, euros and Australian dollars.

Mr. Mike Ma, a civil servant, brought 35,000 Hong Kong dollars ( 4,514 USD ) to the store to buy USD, but could only buy sterling. He said he had hoarded foreign currency last year, when protests erupted in Hong Kong.

Kevin Chan, owner of an online store, bought $ 3,000 on May 29. He also said he started hoarding foreign money since the protests broke out. "I want to be safe," said Chan.

HSBC recently said that some of the bank’s ATMs in Hong Kong ran out of dollars because customers withdrew too much. HSBC has 38 ATM locations providing USD.