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Mr Ho explained: "The difference between 'net assets attributable to inward direct investments' and 'stock of inward direct investments' is that the latter does not include third-party loans (notably bank loans) which are not provided by the external direct investor.
"Both sets of statistics have their own technical basis and analytical purposes."
Based on the findings of the survey, the stock of inward direct investments in the non-manufacturing sectors of Hong Kong amounted to $495.6 billion at the end of 1994. This represented 72% of the total net assets attributable to inward direct investments.
In terms of the stock of inward direct investments in the non-manufacturing sectors, the largest contributors were the United Kingdom (35% of the total or $171.5 billion), China (19% or $92.4 billion), Japan (16% or $78.5 billion), and the United States of America (11% or $53.1 billion).
When compared with the analysis based on total net assets attributable to inward direct investments in the non-manufacturing sectors, the countries profile was similar except that the share of Japan was slightly smaller than that of China, reflecting the higher gearing ratio of enterprises of Japanese interest.
Putting together findings of the two complementary surveys on the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors, the total value of stock of inward direct investments in Hong Kong totalled $535.2 billion at the end of 1994.
In the non-manufacturing sectors, inward direct investments have become increasingly prominent since the mid-1980s. The average number of non- manufacturing undertakings having inward direct investments for the first time increased from some 110 each year in the 1980-84 period to some 240 each year in the 1990-94 period.
About 70% of non-manufacturing undertakings covered in the survey were wholly-owned by a single external interest, whereas joint-ventures between local and external investors accounted for about 27% of non-manufacturing undertakings with inward direct investments.
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The remaining 3% of non-manufacturing undertakings were joint-ventures different external investors without involving a local interest.
As regards the investment environment of Hong Kong, firms in the non- manufacturing sectors ranked the following factors as the most important considerations for making investments in Hong Kong: banking and financial facilities, infrastructure, government economic policy and cost of office/shop spaces.