BACKGROUND NOTE
1.
Mr John Bremridge, Financial Secretary in the Hong Kong
Government, delivered a speech on 30 September to the Hong Kong
Society of Security Analysts on the subject of 'The State of the
Hong Kong Economy'.
2.
Mr Bremridge's main theme was the extent to which the
unexpectedly poor performance of the world economy was adversely
affecting the performance of Hong Kong. In the light of this,
he revised his 1982-3 forecasts of growth made in his Budget
speech in February as follows (all figures in real terms):
Forecast in
Budget Speech
a) Growth of GDP
+8%
b) Growth of Domestic
+7%
Exports
c)
Growth of
+20%
Re-exports
d)
Growth of Imports
+12%
e)
Growth of Private
+7%
Consumption
Expenditure
Revised Forecast
+4%
-2%
-3%
+3%
3.
Sir Edward Youde, the Governor of Hong Kong, delivered his
annual policy address at the opening of the new session of the
Legislative Council on 6 October. He noted that the reduced
growth rate of the economy would have its effect on the public
finances, and that instead of a budgetted surplus of HK$2.3 billion
(approx £200 million) it was likely that the Government's accounts
for 1982-3 would only break even. Against this background, he
/nevertheless