THE ECONOMY
Over the past two decades, the Hong Kong economy has more than tripled. GDP in Hong Kong has been growing at an average annual rate of about 7 per cent in real terms, twice as fast as the world economy and outperformed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies. Per capita GDP in Hong Kong has more than doubled in real terms, equivalent to an average annual real growth rate of about 5 per cent. In 1997, it reached US$26,400. The latest comparison showed that per capita GDP in Hong Kong was next only to those of Japan and Singapore in Asia. It has also surpassed some of the OECD economies, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Benefiting from this remarkable economic performance, the local workforce has enjoyed a continued rise in income both in money terms and in real terms.
Gross Domestic Product (year-on-year growth rate in real terms)
Chart 1
Per cent
18.0
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
8.0
GDP
6.0
4.0
Per capita GDP
2.0
0
-2.0
1976
1978 1980
1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996
Over the past two decades, the Hong Kong economy has been expanding rapidly, with GDP growing by 7% per annum and per capita GDP by 5% per annum in real terms.
Trade in goods and services expanded by about 13 times and four times respectively over the past two decades. Reflecting the highly externally-oriented nature of the Hong Kong economy, the total value of visible trade (comprising re-exports, domestic exports and imports) amounted to $3,075 billion in 1997, representing 232 per cent of the GDP. This compared with corresponding ratios of 143 per cent in 1970, 148 per cent in 1980, and 221 per cent in 1990. Taking into account the value of exports and imports of services, the ratio increased even further, to 267 per cent in 1997. The respective ratios in 1970, 1980, and 1990 were 181 per cent, 181 per cent and 260 per cent.
External investment has played an important role in Hong Kong's economic development. At the end of 1995, the total stock of inward direct investment in Hong Kong rose by 6.6 per cent over a year earlier to reach $532.6 billion, of which 91 per cent went to the non-manufacturing sectors. The UK remained the largest major source, with a share of 27 per cent in the total stock of inward direct investment in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors combined. This was followed by the Mainland (20 per cent), Japan (16 per cent) and the United States (13 per cent).
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