(17865) Dd.145178 400m 5/73 G.W.B.Ltd. Gp.863
CONFIDENTIAL
5. Purely on this count, then (administration and control), there is scope for increasing public expenditure. How large an increase could the administration accommodate?
Public
Gross domestic
product (HK million)
As per ques-
tion 2
expenditure
Revised
(HK million) (HK$ m.)
It should be possible to increase the ratio of public spend- ing to the gross domestic product to about (25% by 1979/80. Expenditure for the two years 1978/79 and 1979/80 taken together would be increased by about HK$2,100 million,at 1976 prices.
This would involve raising the real rate of increase in spending to just over 14%, the upper limit in the Despatch:
(At 1976 prices)
Revised as % Revised as %
previous year
(%)
Increase
G D P
(HK$ m.)
(%)
77/78
42,162
9,143
9,143
21.7
11.2
*
78/79
44,903
9,844
10,462
618
23.3
1404
79/80
47,822
10,511
11,956
1445
25.0
14.3
2063
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
* taken as the mid-point between the revised ratios for
1977/78 and 1979/80.
CONFIDENTIAL