etween 22
!
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25 July 1985.
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:
has
6. A Land Commission made up of British and Chinese officials
been established in Hong Kong to conduct consultations on the
implementation of Annex III to the Joint Declaration dealing with
Land. We expect the first meeting of the Land Commission to
to take
place in late June.
B.
HONG KONG AFTER THE AGREEMENT
(i) THE ECONOMY
•
7. All the indicators show that Hong Kong's economy, having borne
the uncertainties of the past two years with resilience, is now
expanding with renewed confidence. The Hang Seng Index stood at
989.19 points on 1 October 1984, just after
1 October 1984, just after the initialling of the
draft agreement. On 30 May 1985 it stood at 1621.66 The linking
of the Hong Kong dollar to the US dollar in October 1983 has
stabilised the currency. The Hong Kong dollar on 30 May stood three
cents higher against the US dollar than it had six months before,
and, like the US dollar, is therefore very strong against other
currencies.
8.
Hong Kong's Financial Secretary presented his budget for 1985/86 to Hong Kong's Legislative Council on 27 February. His budget
projects good economic prospects for Hong Kong in 1985:
(a)
a growth rate in the GDP of 7%;
(b)
(c)
a growth in domestic exports of 11% and in re-exports of 30%,
giving a growth for total exports of 18%
a growth of private investment in plant machinery of 16% and in
building and construction of 2%; and
(d) an inflation rate of 5.5%.
9.
With
The Financial Secretary forecast a budget deficit of HK$ 1 billion for the coming year. This follows three years of deficits,
produced by a combination of world recession, a fall in Hong Kong
the future. property values, and political uncertainty over uncertainty removed by the agreement, and Hong Kong's economy
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