The Executive Board of the IMF has concluded the consultation discussions with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Hong Kong SAR has rebounded from the global financial crisis, and growth should be at 53⁄4 percent this year. Unemployment has fallen to low levels, and real...

This paper reviews economic developments in the United Kingdom—Hong Kong during 1990, focusing on the expansion and the subsequent slowing in domestic demand in the 1990s, against the background of the export-driven growth in the second half of the 1980s. Developments in aggregate demand and...

This study estimates quantitative, industry-level measures of the intensity of competition and also discusses various methodologies and data used for measuring competition. The following data are also included in the study: gross fixed capital formation, selected price indicators, labor force,...

This paper reviews economic developments in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during 1997–98. The paper highlights that beginning in mid-1997, the regional crisis began to erode confidence in Hong Kong’s exchange rate and prompted a series of speculative attacks. Pressures on the...

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) underwent a painful period of recession and adjustment during the Asian crisis. The adjustment in prices under the linked exchange rate system is well under way. Fiscal policy should continue to provide support for the recovery. Unemployment has...

This 2006 Article IV Consultation highlights that Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has recovered strongly from a series of shocks in recent years and, as expected, the pace of growth is now moderating. Growth was 6.8 percent (year over year) in the first three quarters of 2006, somewhat...

Traditional explanations for indirect trade carried out through an entrepôt have focused on savings in transport costs and on the role of specialized agents in processing and distribution. We provide an alternative perspective based on the possibility that entrepôts may facilitate tariff...

Hong Kong SAR''s government faces the dual challenges of volatile revenue and medium term spending pressures arising from a rapidly aging population. Age-related spending pressures raise long-run sustainability concerns, while revenue volatility creates risks to service provision, possibly...

We study the impact of a minimum wage on business cycle volatility, depending upon its coverage and adjustment mechanism. As with other small open economies, Hong Kong SAR is vulnerable to external shocks, with its exchange rate regime precluding active monetary policy. Adjustment to past shocks...

With much healthcare publicly funded, Hong Kong''s rapidly aging population will significant raise fiscal pressure over coming decades. We ask what the implications are of meeting these costs by public funding, or private funding voluntarily or through mandates. Our simulations suggest that...