XN000022-1987-09-25 — Page 5

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1987

THREE SEPARATE SERIES OF THE EERI, NAMELY, IMPORT-WEIGHTED, EXPORT-WEIGHTED AND TRADE-WEIGHTED, WILL CONTINUE TO BE COMPILED FOR MEASURING THE EFFECT OF EXCHANGE RATE CHANGES ON HONG KONG'S IMPORT, EXPORT AND TOTAL TRADE FLOWS RESPECTIVELY. THE SAME BASKET OF 15 CURRENCIES WILL CONTINUE TO BE USED, WITH THE WEIGHTED AVERAGE OF THEIR NOMINAL EXCHANGE RATE INDEXES BEING COMPARED WITH THE NOMINAL INDEX OF THE HKD IN CALCULATING THE EERI FOR THE HKD.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

TABLE 1 PRESENTS THE OLD AND THE NEW SERIES OF EERI ON AN ANNUAL BASIS FROM 1975 TO 1980, AND ON A MONTHLY BASIS FROM JANUARY 1981 TO AUGUST 1987. THE INFORMATION IN TABLE 1 IS GRAPHICALLY ILLUSTRATED IN CHARTS I AND II. TABLE 2 COMPARES THE IMPORT WEIGHTS, EXPORT WEIGHTS AND OVERALL TRADE WEIGHTS ATTACHED ΤΟ EACH SELECTED CURRENCY FOR THE OLD AND THE NEW SERIES OF EERI.

IT MAY BE NOTED FROM TABLE 1 OR CHART II THAT THE NEW TRADE WEIGHTED EERI INDICATES THAT, BETWEEN THE NEW BASE PERIOD OF OCTOBER 24-28, 1983 AND AUGUST 1987, THE HKD APPRECIATED BY ABOUT 6 PER CENT AGAINST THE BASKET OF THE 15 SELECTED CURRENCIES.

WHICH

THIS DIFFERS FROM THE CHANGE OBSERVED IN THE OLD SERIES, INDICATES A DEPRECIATION OVER THE SAME PERIOD. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW SERIES ARE DUE то THE IMPROVEMENTS INCORPORATED IN THE NEW EERI SERIES.

FOR THE NEW SERIES OF EERI, DAILY INDEXES WILL BE AVAILABLE BACK TO JANUARY 2, 1987, MONTHLY INDEXES ON AVERAGE AND MONTH-END BASIS BACK TO 1981 AND ANNUAL INDEXES ON AVERAGE AND YEAR-END BASIS BACK TO 1975.

THE NEW EERI WILL BE RELEASED ON A DAILY BASIS BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT AS FROM SEPTEMBER 28, 1987. THE OLD SERIES OF EERI WILL CONTINUE TO BE COMPILED FOR THE REST OF THIS YEAR AND WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT UPON REQUEST.

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