WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1994
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REMARKABLE TRANSITION FROM MANUFACTURING TO SERVICES
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HONG KONG'S TRANSITION FROM MANUFACTURING TO SERVICES HAS BEEN ACHIEVED REMARKABLY RAPIDLY, AND WITHOUT THE MASS UNEMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL STRAINS AND URBAN DECAY WHICH HAVE CHARACTERISED THE PROCESS IN OTHER MATURE ECONOMIES.
"WE HAVE, IN EFFECT, MOVED UPMARKET IN TERMS OF HOW WE EARN OUR LIVING, THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY, THE HON SIR HAMISH MACLEOD, SAID IN HIS 1994/95 BUDGET AT THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
THE
SIR HAMISH SAID NO OTHER MAJOR ECONOMY, EITHER IN ASIA OR IN WESTERN WORLD, HAD GONE SO FAR OR 80 RAPIDLY IN REPLACING MANUFACTURING WITH SERVICE INDUSTRIES.
"NO OTHER ECONOMY HAS MANAGED THE PROCESS SO WELL," HE SAID.
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THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY NOTED HONG KONG'S POST-WAR ECONOMIC TAKEOFF WAS BASED ON THE EXPORT OF MANUFACTURED GOODS.
MANUFACTURING STILL ACCOUNTS FOR 13% OF GDP, ALTHOUGH OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS, MANUFACTURING HAS SHED 350,000 JOBS.
BUT THESE HAVE BEEN MORE THAN REPLACED BY THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE SERVICE INDUSTRIES, WHICH ACCOUNT FOR 76% OF GDP.
"LET ME EMPHASISE THAT THIS TRANSFORMATION HAS BEEN DRIVEN BY MARKETS, NOT BY GOVERNMENT PLANNING OR POLICIES.
BUSINESS HAS LED IT, THE GOVERNMENT HAS FACILITATED IT.
"OUR ECONOMIC SUCCESS IN THE FUTURE WILL MORE AND MORE BE BASED OUR ABILITY TO SELL OUR SERVICES TO THE WORLD, THE REGION AND, ABOVE ALL, TO THE CHINESE ECONOMY.
ON
"WE MUST SELL OUR EXPERTISE WITH THE SAME ENTERPRISE AS WE HAVE SOLD OUR MANUFACTURED GOODS. WE SHOULD BE AIDED IN THIS BY THE INCLUSION OF AN AGREEMENT ON SERVICES IN THE SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME OF THE URUGUAY ROUND," HE SAID,
THIS SWITCH FROM MANUFACTURING TO SERVICES HAS PUT A PREMIUM ON EDUCATION AND SKILLS.
HONG KONG'S VALUE ADDED IS NO LONGER LOW-COST MANUFACTURING BUT EXPERTISE OF THE WORKFORCE, THE ENTERPRISE OF INVESTORS AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE MARKETS.
THE
"WE SHOULD BEAR THIS REALITY IN MIND IN RESPONDING TO CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE TO BUSINESS. TOO OFTEN, THESE SEEM TO OVERLOOK THE TRANSFORMATION IN THE WAY WE EARN OUR LIVING AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SERVICE INDUSTRIES AS THE DOMINANT SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY."
/SIR HAMISH