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...

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...

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...

The Asian crisis hit the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) economy hard in 1998, despite its generally strong fundamentals. In response to the crisis, the authorities eased fiscal policy—within the framework of a medium plan to restore budget balance, and significantly strengthened...

This Selected Issues paper reviews medium-term fiscal challenges for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR). It focuses on key considerations that need to be evaluated when formulating a medium-term reserves policy in the face of fiscal challenges, such as accommodating future...

In this study, quantitative, industry-level measures of the intensity of competition are measured. Various methodologies and data used for measuring competition are also discussed. The level of intensity is also compared. The following statistical data are also presented in detail: gross fixed...

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 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 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...