XN000022-1994-05-12 — Page 7

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 1994

GOVERNOR: WELL, EITHER WE'VE MADE SPECTACULAR PROGRESS SINCE MARCH. THAT OR ELSE, WHICH I CAN'T BELIEVE IS THE CASE, THE COMMISSIONER ON OCCASION WAS INACCURATE WHEREAS THE GOVERNOR ON THIS OCCASION IS I ACCURATE. PERHAPS IT'S JUST THAT WE'VE MADE PROGRESS SINCE THEN. CAN CONFIRM THAT THE PLACEMENT RATE FOR THOSE ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR JOBS IS 70 - 75% OF THE 12,500 WHO'VE BEEN THROUGH THE EMPLOYEES RETRAINING SCHEME.

TELL ON THE QUESTION OF THOSE WHO DON'T FIND EMPLOYMENT, I CAN THE HONOURABLE MEMBER THAT THE EMPLOYEES RETRAINING BOARD WILL ORGANISE

INTENSIVE FOLLOW-UP PROGRAMME FOR RETRAINEES WHO ARE то UNABLE

FIND A JOB FOUR WEEKS AFTER ATTENDING THE FIVE-DAY SEARCH SKILLS COURSE.

AN

JOB

WE'LL TRY TO RESOLVE BETWEEN US LATER ON PERHAPS, THE HONOURABLE MEMBER AND MYSELF, THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THE MARCH FIGURE AND THE FIGURE THAT I'VE JUST GIVEN, BUT IT MAYBE THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DIFFERENT THINGS.

MR HENRY TANG (THROUGH INTERPRETER): MR GOVERNOR, I WOULD LIKE ΤΟ WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

HONG

KONG IS A VERY PROSPEROUS AND ECONOMICALLY ADVANCED PLACE. UNFORTUNATELY, EVERY YEAR THE INVESTMENT BY THE ADMINISTRATION IN EDUCATION IS REALLY ON THE LOW SIDE COMPARED ΤΟ NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. FOR INSTANCE, FOR 1994/95 CONCERNING OUR EXPENDITURE FOR EDUCATION, IT

ONLY ACCOUNTS FOR 6.5% OF THE OVERALL BUDGET AND IT ACCOUNTS FOR ONLY 3% OF OUR GDP. COMPARED TO NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES SUCH AS JAPAN, IT'S FIGURE IS 4.8%, MALAYSIA 5.6%, SINGAPORE AND TAIWAN 4%, WE ARE REALLY ON THE LOW SIDE AND THE ONLY PLACE COMPARED TO WHICH WE HAVE A HIGHER FIGURE IS CHINA WHICH IS 2.4%. HONG KONG IS SO PROSPEROUS AND WEALTHY, DO YOU THINK THAT THE SITUATION I JUST NOW DESCRIBED IS ACCEPTABLE OR IS IT EMBARRASSING?

GOVERNOR:

NO,

FIRST OF ALL BEFORE DISAGREEING WITH THE HONOURABLE MEMBER, CAN I AGREE WITH HIM AND WISH MYSELF A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AS WELL. I HOPE THAT I WILL ENJOY THE GREATER LONGEVITY WHICH HONG KONG HEALTH STATISTICS SHOWS THE LOT OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THIS COMMUNITY.

I DON'T ACTUALLY HAPPEN TO THINK THAT PERCENTAGE OF GDP IS NECESSARILY A VERY SATISFACTORY BASIS FOR MAKING COMPARISONS ABOUT THE QUALITY OR EVEN THE QUANTITY OF A PRODUCT. IF YOUR GDP EXPANDED VERY SLOWLY BUT YOUR PUBLIC EXPENDITURE WAS GOING UP BY FASTER THAN THE TREND RATE OF GROWTH IN THE ECONOMY, THEN IT WOULD LOOK AS THOUGH YOU WERE BEING FRIGHTFULLY VIRTUOUS IF YOU WERE MEASURING EDUCATION SPENDING IN PROPORTION TO GDP, BUT YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY BE SPENDING LESS MONEY IN ABSOLUTE TERMS ON EDUCATION BECAUSE YOUR ECONOMY WASN'T GROWING AS RAPIDLY AS YOU WOULD'VE LIKED. I THINK IT'S ALSO WORTH MAKING, THAT PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND TAX AS PROPORTIONS OF GDP ARE MUCH LOWER

THAN IN A NUMBER OF NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES, INDEED, THAN IN MOST COUNTRIES. SO THERE ARE SOME PRIVATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION WHICH I DOUBT ARE INCLUDED IN THOSE FIGURES. I THINK THE FIGURE OF 3.4% FOR HONG KONG IS THE FIGURE FOR PUBLIC EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION.

/I THINK