Bay
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I suspect that in his next budget, the Financial Secretary will
that overall the economy performed well in 1979; and that while some of the major problems we faced last year are still with us, that others
have largely disappeared.
For example, 1979 proved to be another year of rapid economic growth. The latest GDP forecast suggests that for the fourth year running,
This is quite a remarkable the growth rate of our economy was 10 per cent or more. record, and was achieved against a much more stable background than we
experienced in 1978.
However, there are, as we are all well aware, a number of worrisome spectres on the scene as we enter the Eighties and you, Mr Chairman, have referred to some of them. Under the broad headings of "Inflation, Immigration and Protectionism" I propose to consider further some aspects of our problems of the future. I shall also have something to say later about Labour-
Management relations.
An inflationary situation is worrying and unsettling. For Hong Kong in 1979 much of our inflation was imported: the obvicus consequence, for example, of the substantial increases in world oil prices, which affect our lives not just through increased costs in oil-based fuels and the gas and electricity derived from them, but also our imports and the transport costs of all goods. Very few aspects of our daily lives, indeed, are not affected.
/However,