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Wednesday, October 17, 1973
"We regard this issue as an open one on which adjustments could
and should be sought in the course of annual reviews," he stressed.
Looking back over the year, the Governor noted that it had been
one of exceptional difficulty for exporters, businessmen, bankers and
developers who had been affected in varying degrees by the rise and fall of
the stock market, the general world inflationary spiral, the international
currency instability and the world-wide shortage of raw materials, among
others.
"Against this background of so many difficulties it is encouraging
that the value of our domestic exports alone in the first eight months of
this year was 21 per cent up in value on the same eight months of 1972, end
let us remember this is an export-led economy," Sir Murray said.
Even allowing for inflation of values, this was a significant result,
and the fact that expansion should still have continued in the face of so many
problems and uncertainties was in itself "remarkable".
"This gives solid ground for hope that the ingenuity of our exporters
and their labour force, the hard-headedness of our official negotiators, and
the sheer demand for Hong Kong's goods can continue to combine to ensure the
expansion of our economy."
11
Referring to the rise in prices, the Governor said: "The plain fact
of the matter is that the world is going through a particularly inflationary
phase, and Hong Kong cannot insulate itself from it.'
Tr
This world inflationary trend, he added, had coincided with a
significant rise in the prices being charged for imported foodstuffs as a
result of a combination of factors, including world grain shortages, i the
exceptional climatic conditions of this summer in Hong Kong and South China, and
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