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Para.5
I am not a financial expert but I think the references to a possible financial collapse are over drawn.
Para. 11
Here and elsewhere reference is made to foreign investment in Hong Kong and the possibility, if it dwindles, of Hong Kong being unviable. This needs looking at more closely. Hong Kong has a powerful economy which should now be self-sustaining. I doubt whether foreign investment makes very much difference these days to Hong Kong except perhaps to push up the share values of the larger banks and trading companies.
Para. 19
The word "rapidly" in line 7 should be replaced by the word "steadily". (At about 5% per annum).
Para. 21
The
not
I think this needs more refinement and explanation. budgetary policy of the Hong Kong Government in the 1950s and 60s was conditioned by the requirement to obtain UK approval readily granted for borrowing. This reinforces the local orthodoxy that the cheapest money is your own and led to capital projects being paid for on the current Budget. During the 20 years or so of Budget surpluses, this worked well, although one of the results was to starve education, social welfare and the medical services. It remains far from clear to me why housing in Hong Kong should not be built on the basis of loans which are recouped from rents, the loans being amortised over, say, 20 or 30 years. The Budget need only then bear whatever subsidiy the Government chooses to give to low cost housing. To operate in this way would not be to resort to deficit financing.
Para. 22
6
The Hong Kong situation is not unique; there is, for example, Singapore. The reference to the ratio of GDP/GNP is not understood. The argument later in the paragraph about the modification of the Governor's programme for social expenditure might mention that the need to cut back derives at least in part from the custom of financing capital expenditure on the recurrent Budget.
Para. 25
As I have said elsewhere, I think it is quite wrong to say that under the present Governor Hong Kong's social programmes "have been greatly accelerated". They have been given more coherent form by being put into 5 year and 10 year Development Plans. They have been more carefully explained and more expertly presented, mainly because of the much improved Information Services improved because of the weaknesses discovered on the
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