HONG KONG FINANCIAL ROUND
June-July 1992.
Inflation continues to moderate
Consumer price inflation continued to moderate in May, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics Department. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) (A) was 8.8 per cent higher than in May last year. This compares with a slightly higher figure of 8.9 per cent in April this year and the peak figure of 13.9 per cent in April last year.
Tourist arrivals up
Visitor arrivals to Hong Kong rose 20.1 per cent to more than 2.7 million for the first five months of this year, with French tourist groups accounting for the biggest jump of 70 per cent in May, according to figures released by the Hong Kong Tourist Association. For the first five months of the year, Western European remained the largest group, rising 24.4 per cent to 369,745 followed by North Americans, up 21.1 per cent to 340,384.
Container throughput increases
Hong Kong's container throughput continued to grow in the first four months of the year, with Kwai Chung Terminal traffic at some 1.45 million T.E. U. (twenty-foot equivalent units), up 11.45 per cent from 1.3 million T.E.U. over the same period last year. Together with cargoes handled in river trade, stream and elsewhere, total container throughput, at 2.22 million T.E.U., increased by 460,000 T.E.U., or 26 per cent, over the same period.
HK$5b increase in public expenditure
The Financial Secretary, Hamish Macleod, has revealed that public expenditure (recurrent and capital) will be allowed to increase by about HK$5 billion (US$641 million) in real terms over the 1992-93 budget. This is calculated on the basis that expenditure growth must be kept within the trend growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP).
Part of the extra sum has been earmarked to meet improvements coming on stream next year in various programme areas, such as education, health, social welfare, law and order and environment. Further new services can be funded from the balance of the extra money and redeployment of
resources.
Rapid growth for communications
Findings of the 1990 survey of storage, communications, financing, insurance and business services by the Census and Statistics Department show rapid growth of Hong Kong's communications and business services industries in 1990, with business receipts rising by 22 per cent and 18 per cent in value terms respectively over 1989. The communications industry's value added, which is a measure of the industry's contribution to the total GDP, grew by 22 per cent from HK$8.4 billion (US$1.08 billion) in 1989 to HK$10.3 billion (US$1.32 billion) in 1990. The business services industry's value added was up 12 per cent over 1989, contributing HK$15.6 billion (US$2 billion).
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