3
The Economy
according to the World Bank's Doing Business 2013 Report. Hong Kong has also been conferred the top triple-A credit rating by Standard and Poor's.
The size of the Hong Kong economy more than doubled over the past two decades, with its GDP expanding at an average annual rate of 3.7 per cent in real terms, faster than the average growth at 3.6 per cent of the world economy. Over the same period, Hong Kong's per capita GDP rose by nearly 70 per cent in real terms, posting an average annual growth rate of 2.6 per cent. Hong Kong's per capita GDP at current market prices reached US$36,800 in 2012, one of the highest in Asia (Chart 2).
Chart 2
Gross Domestic Product
Index (1992 = 100)
US$
250
40,000
Real GDP (left scale)
Per capita GDP at current market prices (right scale)
35,000
200
30,000
25,000
150
20,000
15,000
100
10,000
5,000
50
0
1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Over the past two decades, the Hong Kong economy grew by an average of 3.7 per cent in real terms, outpacing the 3.6 per cent growth for the world economy.
Riding on the tides of globalisation and the further deepening of regional integration, Hong Kong's trade linkages with other parts of the world have grown appreciably. Trade in goods and services more than tripled in real terms over the past two decades. In 2012, the total value of visible trade (comprising re-exports, domestic exports and imports of goods) reached $7,347 billion, equivalent to 360 per cent of GDP. This was considerably higher than the ratios of 233 per cent in 1992 and 245 per cent in 2002. Including the value of exports and imports of services, the ratio of total trade to GDP was even higher, at 430 per cent in 2012, up significantly from 273 per cent in 1992 and 288 per cent in 2002.
The stock of inward direct investment in Hong Kong was enormous, at $11,024 billion in market value at the end of 2012, equivalent to 540 per cent of GDP. It served as another vivid manifestation of Hong Kong's increasing international focus. Hong Kong is among the most preferred destinations for inward direct investment in Asia, ranked second in Asia by the United Nations' World Investment Report 2012, just after the Mainland.
The corresponding figures for Hong Kong's stock of outward direct investment were likewise huge, at $10,152 billion or 498 per cent of GDP. As an international financial centre with huge
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