Percent
18.0
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0
-2.0
THE ECONOMY
Gross Domestic Product (year-on-year growth rate in real terms)
GDP
Per capita GDP
T
1983 1985 1987
1989
1991 1993 1995
1975
1977 1979 1981
Over the past two decades, the Hong Kong economy has been expanding rapidly, with GDP growing by 7% per annum and per capita GDP 6% per annum in real terms.
prices), which is 1.2 per cent larger than Hong Kong's GDP for the same year. (See Appendix 6).
Contributions of the Various Economic Sectors
The relative importance of the various economic sectors can be assessed in terms of their contributions to the GDP and to total employment. Primary production (comprising agriculture and fisheries, mining and quarrying) is very small by both
measures.
Within secondary production (comprising manufacturing; construction; and the supply of electricity, gas and water), the manufacturing sector still contributes the largest share in terms of both GDP and employment. With the continued expansion of the service sectors and the on-going relocation of manufacturing processes to China since the mid-1980s, the contribution of the manufacturing sector to GDP declined steadily, from 24 per cent in 1980 to around 22 per cent during the period 1985 to 1987, 18 per cent in 1990, and further to nine per cent in 1994. On the other hand, the share of the construction sector in GDP, after falling from seven per cent in 1980 to around five per cent in 1985, has stayed at that level. The combined share of the supply of electricity, gas and water, at two per cent in 1994, was broadly the same as the average over the past 10 years.
China's open-door policy and economic reforms have not only provided a huge production hinterland for local manufacturers, they have also created an abundance of business opportunities for a wide range of service activities in Hong Kong, including freight transport, telecommunications, banking, real estate development,
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