+
64 -
Reply:
(a) According to a survey in January-February 1995, 384 (6%) of the 6,558 licensed restaurants in the territory had set aside a no-smoking area and 6,174 (94%) had not.
(b) There is concern among restaurant operators that a requirement to set aside no-smoking areas would result in a loss of business. Given that enforcement would rest with restaurant operators and would be ineffective without their support, we consider that the decision on whether to set aside no-smoking areas should best be left to them to determine. We therefore have no immediate plans to introduce legislation to require restaurants to set aside no-smoking areas, although we will continue to monitor the situation to determine whether it might be appropriate to do so in future.
End/Wednesday, November 8, 1995
Annual Gross Domestic Product growth
Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Cheng Kar-foo and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services, Mr Rafael lui, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
In the Medium Range Forecast (MRF) of the 1995-1996 Budget, the assumption on the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 1994-95 to 1998- 99 has been set at 5% in real terms. However, the Governor stated recently in his Policy Address that Hong Kong's economic mood was less buoyant than the fundamentals justified. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether it will revised downwards the estimated GDP figures in the MRF of the Budget; if so, why revisions are needed and what the extent of such revisions will be; if not, what the Goverment will do to ensure that our GDP can continue to grow annually by 5% in 1995-96 and 1996-97?
I