3
-
In a detailed feature on the effects of the stock market crash on world monetary markets, the Cologne-based Geld-Magazin, the investment monthly, gives the example of speculator Li Kashing's experience of issuing HK$10,300 million worth of shares just before the crash which are now worth 30% less.
In another feature, Hamburg economic magazine Impulse reviews the pros and cons of about 20 tax havens. Under the heading "Introduction to six far-away tax havens", the authors wax poetic about the tax advantages to be found in Hong Kong but, at the same time, remind readers that these advantages "are in any case valid until 1997".
In the German paper Handelsblatt of 27 January, there is a long article on investment in Thailand which ends with the information that the Thais are starting a PR campaign aimed at Europeans to try to persuade them to invest in Thailand. The idea is to attract European investors to act as a counterweight to investors from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In an article in the Belgian Echo de la Bourse on Chinese investment abroad, the workings of the CITIC (China International Trust and Investment Corp) are given. The paper says that it is Hong Kong that receives the lion's share of Chinese investment - everything from hotels to anchorages- which are said to be worth $1,000 million.
Four Tigers
In a large feature article appearing in the Lisbon daily Diario Noticias, Macau correspondent Rocha Dinis highlights the so-called "Four Tigers". His article carries the headline "Slowdown in growth of Asian countries". He reviews the economic situation of the Four in the light of American protectionism. More interest in the Four Tigers is shown by Gilbert Etienne, Professor of International Studies at the University of Geneva. He writes in Le Monde of 26 January of the contrast of the two Asian "industrial regions" which he calls "Industrial Asia running at two different speeds". He claims that the Confucian framework left by the Chinese Empire is to a large extent the reason why the Four have been so successful. A recent edition of the popular Belgian daily Le Soir reports on Reagan's decision to exclude the Four from trade preferences. An article on the Bali Trade Conference appears in the South German paper Münchener Merkur. There is also a general article by Rudolf Herlt writing in the Hannover Allgemeine Zeitung on the Four. Herlt says that it is really amazing how "backward" agricultural countries such as South Korea and Taiwan and "colonial outposts" such as Singapore and Hong Kong have in such a short space of time managed to transform themselves into "modern dynamic countries with little unemployment and with a better standard of living than many developing countries possessing raw materials".
The Italian press continues to show great interest in Hong Kong especially in the wake of the Confindustria visit. Guido Busetto writing in La Sicilia, the Southern Italian paper, deals with the growth prospects of the Four. He predicts a 7.5% growth rate for Hong Kong in the coming year. In an article which appeared in Il Mondo, the Italian economic and political weekly, Ettore Tamos deals with trade relations between Hong Kong and Italy. The opening up of so many branch offices of Italian banks in Hong Kong has really contributed to these enhanced relations, says Tamos.
/Miscellaneous
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.