FNM Pusinelli Esq
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
5 June 1990
Chairman
Overseas Service Pensioners' Association
63 Church Road
HKB
RECEIVED IN
233
HOVE
13 AUG 1990
:
Sussex
BN3 2BD
INDE
Dear Mr. Pusinelli,
13
Thank you for your letters of 4 and 25 April to Robin McLaren about sterling safeguards for expatriate pensioners of the Hong Kong Government. I am replying, since I have now succeeded him as the Assistant Under- Secretary concerned.
I sympathise with your position, but I hope that you in turn will appreciate the difficulty which the Hong Kong Government face on this question. The Hong Kong Government do not offer a sterling safeguard to their Government servants in general. It would be extremely divisive for them therefore, as the Chief Secretary pointed out in his letter of 15 February to Colvin Haye, to contemplate a sterling safeguard for expatriate officers only. I am sure that you recognise the force of this.
I might add that, as you know, the Hong Kong Government have proposed that a small fund be established to provide one-off payments to any pensioners in distress. I understand that this has now been approved by EXCO.
For our part, we see no present justification for contemplating any sterling link or safeguard.
The Eong Kong dollar's link with the US dollar has proved extremely resilient. Of course, the US $/£ sterling rate has fluctuated, but we do not believe that this has led to cases of hardship. I have to say that most Hong Kong pensioners continue to do reasonably well, certainly in comparison with their UK public servant counterparts and
MOCS staff in receipt of pensions from other territories.
Улина
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