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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1987
A SMALL CUMULATIVE VISIBLE TRADE SURPLUS OF $999 MILLION, EQUIVALENT TO 0.3 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, WAS RECORDED IN THE FIRST 11 MONTHS OF THIS YEAR. THIS COMPARED WITH A VIRTUALLY BALANCED VISIBLE TRADE ACCOUNT IN THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.
COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT SPOKESMAN SAID THE GROWTH RATE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS, ALTHOUGH STILL SIGNIFICANT IN NOVEMBER, HAD SLOWED DOWN GRADUALLY IN RECENT MONTHS.
IN
THIS SLOW-DOWN PARTLY REFLECTED THE HIGH BASE OF COMPARISON THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR, BUT WOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN EXPECTED AFTER NEARLY 20 MONTHS OF BUOYANT DOMESTIC EXPORT PERFORMANCE.
THE SPOKESMAN SAID THE CONTINUED RAPID GROWTH IN RE-EXPORTS WAS MAINLY DUE TO THE FLOURISHING ENTREPOT TRADE WITH CHINA, IN POSITION BOTH AS A SOURCE AND AS A MARKET FOR HONG KONG'S RE-EXPORTS.
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HE ADDED THAT THE SUSTAINED GROWTH IN IMPORTS WAS PARTLY A REFLECTION OF THE HIGH LEVEL OF DOMESTIC DEMAND. BUT ALSO SUGGESTED THAT EXPORT PERFORMANCE WAS LIKELY TO REMAIN SATISFACTORY IN THE NEXT MONTH OR SO, ALTHOUGH THE SITUATION BEYOND THAT WAS MORE UNCERTAIN.
/TRADE FIGURES .......