A
2
33
4
5
6
7
NP8
9
10
11-
12
13
NP 14
15
NP
16
17
18
19
20
21
2 2 2 2
22
23
24
NP 25
26
27
28
29
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3
2 30
NP 31
32
33
34
35
last year's Budget surplus might be closer to $9,500 million or even more, instead of the
This should original $2,400 million estimate.
put Hong Kong's public financles in an even healthier position and our economy better able to withstand any economic downturns looming on the horizon within the next year or
two. E support the Financial Secretary's
/
policy of fiscal prudence, coupled with mod- erate tax concessions, plus steady increases in expenditure on social welfare, public housing, medical and other social services, so as to uplift living standards and the quality of life. Hong Kong's economic relationships with main- land China are expanding by leaps and bounds, so much so that with an industrial workforce of about 850,000, Hong Kong is directly, or indirectly, employing over one million workers
[In order to in Guangdong province alone. stay competitive in exports, Hong Kong will have to keep on expanding economic integra-
more, sub- tion with the mainland, through massive contracting of the manufacture of goods in the labour-intensive industries. Hong Kong's economic future is already inexorably linked with China's economic reforms, and the faster that China opens up, the faster will be the economic interface between Hong Kong and the cities in China which are seeking to export their products to the outside World.
As a regionaly commcial, industrial, commun- ications and financial centre, Hong Kong is
playing an indispensible role in China's
economic development into the twenty-first 21 st
century.
n
36
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