TNAG-0381-FCO40-427-Sterling-assets-and-balance-of-payments-of-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 137

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(1)

over US$1,100 per annum.

This growth represents

a genuine and substantial advance in living standards:

in real terms, the gross domestic product has been

increasing in recent years, on average, at something

of the order of 74% per annum, and this is equivalent

to about 5% per annum per head of the population.

(2)

(3)

Economic Development

4.

Hong Kong's economy today differs vastly from

that of the late 1940's and early 1950's not only by

virtue of its sheer size, but also in terms of its

structure. Hong Kong's strategic geographical position and

natural harbour facilities had for long made it a centre

world, on the other.

for the trade between China and the surrounding region,

on the one hand, and the rest of the

Hong Kong's early growth and emergence in recent times

as a major financial and commercial centre owed much to

this trade, but that is another story which I shall not

be dealing with today.

In any case, Singapore would hardly

Rather surprisingly, re-exports

be an appropriate venue.

still represent as much as 24% by value of total exports

but, in marked contrast to the position two decades ago,

Hong Kong's economy is now largely based on the export

of manufactured products which qualify for Hong Kong

certificates of origin. The manufacturing work force is

now half as large again as it was just ten years or so ago

and its growth has been far more rapid than that of the

working population as a whole. Today manufacturing industry,

/which..