TNAG-1268-FCO40-1617-China-s-economic-relationship-with-Hong-Kong-Shenzhen-econom-1983 — Page 33

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PART II :

NT

NTAL 1X 1

2

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HONG KONG AS A SOURCE OF FOREIGN EXCHANGE

EARNINGS FOR CHINA

3.

(a) Visible trade surplus

Since 1952, the visible trade balance

between Hong Kong and China has always been in favour

of the latter. Apart from occasional setbacks,

notably in 1959, 1961 and 1967, due mainly to the disruptions caused by the Great Leap Forward and the

Cultural Revolution, Hong Kong's imports from China

have enjoyed steady growth and there has been practically no interruption to this growth trend from

1968 onwards. In the last five years 1978-82, which

coincides with the post-Mao period and the

implementation of the Four Modernizations Programme,

the growth rate of imports from China, in HK$ terms,

accelerated sharply to 32% p.a. in money terms, from a rate of slightly more than 13% p.a. in the previous

ten years, 1968-77. With exports to Hong Kong of

HK$32,935 million (US$5,424 million)

in 1982,

China for the first time since 1968 overtook Japan as

the largest supplier of goods to Hong Kong.

4.

(1)

Compared with imports from China, the values

of Hong Kong's domestic exports and re-exports to

China, at HK$3,806 million (US$627 million) and

HK$7,992 million (US$1,316 million) respectively in

1982, are small. However, both domestic exports and

re-exports have grown very rapidly in the last five years, 1978-82, by 162% p.a. and 115% p.a. (both in HK$ terms) respectively.

G.F. 326

CONFIDENTIAL # 3

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