XN000022-1972-11-15 — Page 18

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Wednesday, November 15, 1972

CONCERN FOR HONG KONG'S STERLING RESERVES

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The Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, said today he

shared the concern expressed by the Hon. Q.W. Lee about the future security

of Hong Kong's sterling reserves, and promised to make a full statement soon

after his return from his forthcoming visit to London.

Speaking in the Legislative Council, he said it would not be in the

best interests of a satisfactory settlement for him to make a statement at

this time "as representations have recently been made to H.M. Government at

the highest level and as I shall be following up these representations while

in London this week and next.'

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At present, he said, about half of Hong Kong's sterling reserves

are owned by the Government, and half by the banks against their Hong Kong

dollar liabilities.

Referring to the Hon. Wilfred Wong's remarks about estimates of the

Gross National Product, the Financial Secretary assured him that he considered

estimates of various national income aggregates as being "useful tools for the

understanding of even an economy as externally oriented as ours."

He said the Census and Statistics Department has prepared "very

preliminary" estimates of the Gross Domestic Product going back for several

years.

The Gross Domestic Product, he said, is a slightly different aggregate

from the Gross National Product in that it does not include net earnings from

investments abroad but is less difficult to calculate in local circumstances.

/Furthermore,