FILE (169
PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING THE SINO-BRITISH JOINT DECLARATION OF 1984
ON HONG KONG (FCO/FAC/3/89)
HKB 011/3
SUBMITTED BY THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT
HONG KONG'S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DevelopmeNT
1. This paper aims to give a brief sketch of Hong Kong's economic and social development in the decades since the Second World War, to assess where it stands at present and to describe the Government's plans for the future.
2.
For over a
By any standards the story is a remarkable one. hundred years Hong Kong had functioned as an entrepot,
an entrepot, a free port,
to facilitate trade between China and the outside world. It found itself completely devastated at the end of the Japanese occupation and had, almost literally, to start again from scratch. The pieces were just being picked up when the Korean war and the United Nations embargo on trade with China devastated the entrepot trade, up till At the same time, then the territory's main source of livelihood.
its population was swollen by a huge influx of refugees from China following the Communist victory. The future could not have appeared
more bleak.
3. Yet, from this highly unpromising start, a complete transformation of Hong Kong's economy and society has been accomplished in only 40 years. The driving force has been rapid economic growth sustained for over a generation. Although precise figures are not available for the whole period, it is estimated that the Hong Kong economy is now some 15 times bigger than it was in the early 1950s. Taking account of population growth, output per head has grown sixfold over the same period. In the 22 years since 1966, when official accounts were first calculated, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown more than five and a half times in real
GDP per terms, an average of over 8% each year in real terms. capita has increased over three and a half times, so that Hong Kong now has the second highest standard of living in Asia after Japan.
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