TNAG-1762-FCO40-2516-Economic-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 15

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8.

In view of the heterogeneous nature

of retained imports of capital goods other

than for manufacturing use, the changes in

real terms are not sufficiently reliable to

be quoted publicly. The series is included

merely to provide a rough indication of the

overall trend. These retained imports grew by 15% in the third quarter of 1988,

following increases of 6% in the first

quarter and 22% in the second quarter.

together, these retained imports grew by 15% in the first three quarters of 1988, compared

with a growth rate of 28% for 1987 as a whole

(Table 2).

9.

Within this group of retained

Taken

imports, the growth rate varied substantially

between different items. In the third

quarter of 1988, the fastest increases in

money terms over a year earlier were recorded

for construction machinery, and electronic

components and parts for computers, followed

by air conditioners and air conditioning

machines. A relatively smaller increase was

recorded for office machinery. However,

declines were recorded for electrical line

telephone apparatus, scientific and optical instruments, and transport equipment

(Table 3).

Investment in property

(all growth rates quoted in this section are

on year-on-year basis and expressed in real

terms, unless otherwise indicated)

G.F. 326

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