TNAG-1762-FCO40-2516-Economic-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 13

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Table 2

Table 3

118% in the second quarter.

increase of 18% was recorded,

decline of 30% in 1986.

5.

(b)

In 1987, an

following a

Retained imports of capital

goods

Subject to certain statistical limitations, retained imports of capital

goods provide a useful indicator of the

latest trend in investment in plant and

machinery. They rose by 16% in the third

quarter of 1988, compared with increases of

9% in the first quarter and 17% in the second

quarter. Taking the first three quarters of 1988 together, these retained imports grew by 14% (Table 2). Athough this was lower than

the 26% growth recorded for 1987 as a whole, it suggests that investment activity has remained strong.

6.

Industrial machinery was the

largest component of retained imports of

capital goods in the first three quarters of

1988 (accounting for 24% of the total value), followed by transport equipment (12%), and electronic components and parts for computers

(11%). A breakdown of retained imports of capital goods by major categories, along with

their respective growth rates in money terms,

is given in Table 3. Because of the

difficulties in compiling reliable price indices as the product breakdown becomes more

disaggregated, growth rates in real terms are

G.F. 326

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