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PART II :
NT
NTAL 1X 1
2
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HONG KONG AS A SOURCE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE
EARNINGS FOR CHINA
3.
(a) Visible trade surplus
Since 1952, the visible trade balance
between Hong Kong and China has always been in favour
of the latter. Apart from occasional setbacks,
notably in 1959, 1961 and 1967, due mainly to the disruptions caused by the Great Leap Forward and the
Cultural Revolution, Hong Kong's imports from China
have enjoyed steady growth and there has been practically no interruption to this growth trend from
1968 onwards. In the last five years 1978-82, which
coincides with the post-Mao period and the
implementation of the Four Modernizations Programme,
the growth rate of imports from China, in HK$ terms,
accelerated sharply to 32% p.a. in money terms, from a rate of slightly more than 13% p.a. in the previous
ten years, 1968-77. With exports to Hong Kong of
HK$32,935 million (US$5,424 million)
in 1982,
China for the first time since 1968 overtook Japan as
the largest supplier of goods to Hong Kong.
4.
(1)
Compared with imports from China, the values
of Hong Kong's domestic exports and re-exports to
China, at HK$3,806 million (US$627 million) and
HK$7,992 million (US$1,316 million) respectively in
1982, are small. However, both domestic exports and
re-exports have grown very rapidly in the last five years, 1978-82, by 162% p.a. and 115% p.a. (both in HK$ terms) respectively.
G.F. 326
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