XN000022-1988-09-24 — Page 5

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1988

HE TOLD HIS

AUDIENCE. COMPRISING SOME 100 FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS EXECUTIVES, THAT HONG KONG WOULD NOT TAKE STEPS TO RESTRICT EMIGRATION, WHICH HE SAID HAD BEEN A FACT OF LIFE SINCE SOME OF ITS CITIZENS LEFT FOR CALIFORNIA DURING THE 1849 GOLD RUSH.

IS

"HONG KONG IS ALSO ENCOURAGING EMIGRES TO RETURN, AND THERE SOME EVIDENCE THAT THE NUMBERS ARE INCREASING JUDGING BY FIGURES SUPPLIED BY THE CONSULATES AND THE TRICKLE OF LETTERS COMING INTO THE OFFICE FROM WOULD-BE JOB SEEKERS TO HONG KONG,' MR JOHNSON SAID.

*

THE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF AN ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURER, FLEXTRONICS CORPORATION, MR DENNIS STRADFORD, SAID THE BRAIN DRAIN DID NOT APPEAR AS SERIOUS IN THE HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES AS IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES.

'ELECTRONICS PEOPLE FEEL THEIR POSITIONS ARE SECURE AFTER 1997 AND THERE WILL BE LOTS OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEM, JIE SAID.

"

KONG,

MR STRADFORD, WHO HAD JUST RETURNED FROM A VISIT TO HONG ADDED THAT HE FORESAW INCREASING INVESTMENT IN HONG KONG ELECTRONICS COMPANIES,

THE

THIRD

SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF THE FINANCIAL SECTOR, PANELLIST, VICE PRESIDENT AND AREA PERSONNEL MANAGER OF THE BANK OF AMERICA, MS PATRICIA TABER, SAID THAT THE DISPROPORTIONATELY LARGE NUMBER OF 'BETTER EDUCATED* RESIDENTS WHO WERE EMIGRATING WERE PUTTING A PARTICULAR STRAIN ON THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR, AND CITED A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS FACED BY THE BANKING INDUSTRY.

ON THE OTHER HAND, MS TABER SAID, A NUMBER OF THESE POSITIONS WOULD BE FILLED BY RETURNEES AND EMIGRATION WOULD PROVIDE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PEOPLE WHO STAYED TO MOVE AHEAD,

PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR AUGUST RELEASED

IN AUGUST, THE YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH RATES OF THE VARIOUS TRADE AGGREGATES WERE ALL HIGHER THAN IN JULY, ΚΙΤΗ PARTICULARLY

GROWTH BEING RECORDED FOR RE-EXPORTS.

SHARP

THIS IS SHOWN IN THE PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES RELEASED (SATURDAY) BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.

TODAY

THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN AUGUST 1988 WAS $20,669 MILLION, $2,112 MILLION OR 11.4 PER CENT HIGHER THAN IN AUGUST 1987, WHILE THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 57.5 PER CENT OR $9,282 MILLION TO $25,431 MILLION.

/THE VALUE