TNAG-0453-FCO40-518-Budget-of-Hong-Kong-1974-1975-1975 — Page 138

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the essential role which our network of advisory councils and committees plays in assisting in the decision making process in Hong Kong but, before adding to the network, I think we must be very clear in our own minds as to the objects we would be trying to achieve with such a committee and the way in which it would fit into the existing network. I am, I must confess, far from clear precisely what honourable Members have in mind and no move should be made which, in theory or in practice, erodes the authority of Executive Council in respect of general policy questions. But I see merit in my honourable Friend Mr. Q.W. Lee's suggestion that a study

group should examine whether the present consultative arrangements need to be altered or extended and if so, how.

13.

Meanwhile, I should like to take up my honourable Friend Mr. P.C. Woo's reference to the need "to keep constantly under review the economic problems of the day". This the Government has been doing for some time now based on the re-establishment of a central statistical department in 1968 and the formation of an Economic Analysis Unit of the Economic Branch in the autumn of 1972. The end products of the activities of the staff concerned are to be found in the Monthly Digest of Statistics, the annual estimates of the gross domestic product and the annual publication known as the Economic Background to the Budget.

This latter document is designed

to review the developments in the economy over the past year and to set the stage, so to speak, for the forecast of our economic prospects for the coming year so that the budget can be constructed on a rational basis. We also intend to

publish interim reviews on the state of the economy during each year probably in April, July and October and the first issue

for this year is in hand. The annual review and the interim

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reviews are drafted by the Economic Analysis Unit with the assistance of the departments concerned, particularly the Census and Statistics Department, and then vetted by a caucus of senior officers concerned with economic policy under my chairmanship. If Unofficial Members would like to be associated with the production of these annual and interim reviews, I would very much welcome this and would propose for Your Excellency's consideration the establishment, on a formal basis, of an

/Economic