XN000022-1980-10-17 — Page 9

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So we in Hong Kong have good reason to admire American,

but what of Hong Kong itself?

Well Hong Kong is a unique phenomenon of the second

half of this century and we continue to have both our successes

and our problems. When I last spoke to a gathering of bankers in New

York it was in the recession period of 1975 and I said then that

since Hong Kong had been willing to tighten its belt in bad times,

its economy was well poised to forge ahead as soon as the slightest

puff of new export demand filled its sails. So it has turned out,

and this will be the fourth successive year of double digit growth

in real terms. These have been years of rapid investment in plant

and commercial and domestic building, and extraordinary growth in

the number of banks and finance houses and indeed in the tertiary

sector generally. While Hong Kong's economy continues to be

industry-based and export-led, the tertiary sector is playing an

increasingly important role and in particular Hong Kong's role as

a world banking centre has become established.

banks, 19 are American and there are a further 27 American banks

Of the 115 licensed

which have offices or permanently based representatives in the territory.

This activity and growth in the private sector has been matched by

public sector progress in housing, hospitals, schools, social welfare

and all the infrastructure that enables growth to be accompanied by

stability and sustain its continued upward movement. I might add that

/there have ....