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HK Economy Recovering From Asian Financial Crisis
The Hong Kong economy is gradually recovering from the effects of the Asian financial crisis with trade deficit narrowed and re-exports increased, a European Union report said on Thursday.
The report, the second annual report by the European Commission on Hong Kong, said that Hong Kong still remains one of the freest societies in Asia and Hong Kong people are running Hong Kong and doing so effectively.
The commission, the executive body of the 15-nation European bloc, said after approving the report on Thursday that the "one country, two systems" principle is generally working well.
The fact that EU companies continued to invest heavily in Hong Kong demonstrated their confidence in Hong Hong's future, the report added.
The report said that in the second quarter of 1999 Hong Kong emerged from 15 months of recession while other economic indicators also showed positive trends during the past year.
It added that the Hong Kong stock market prices recovered their July 1997 level and unemployment was stabilized.
"Hong Kong's market economy continues to operate in very much the same manner as it did before the handover (of Hong Kong to China)," said the report.
The European Commission cited as two major economic events in the past year the liberalization of the financial markets through the demutualization, merger and listing of the securities and futures exchanges and the first steps taken to dispose of the stock portfolio that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region authorities acquired in the summer of 1998 to intervene against the speculation on the stock and currency markets.
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