COUNTRY PROFILE 2000 Hong Kong Macau This Country Profile is a reference tool, which provides analysis of historical political, infrastructural and economic trends. It is revised and updated annually. The EIU’s Country Reports analyse current trends and provide a two-year forecast The full publishing schedule for Country Profiles is now available on our website at http://www.eiu.com/schedule The Economist Intelligence Unit 15 Regent St, London SW1Y 4LR United Kingdom The Economist Intelligence Unit The Economist Intelligence Unit is a specialist publisher serving companies establishing and managing operations across national borders. For over 50 years it has been a source of information on business developments, economic and political trends, government regulations and corporate practice worldwide. 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ISSN 0269-7319 Symbols for tables “n/a” means not available; “–” means not applicable Printed and distributed by Redhouse Press Ltd, Unit 151, Dartford Trade Park, Dartford, Kent DA1 1QB, UK Comparative economic indicators, 1999 EIU Country Profile 2000 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2000 1 Contents Hong Kong 4 Basic data 5 Political background 5 Historical background 12 Constitution and institutions 15 Political forces 18 International relations and defence 19 Resources and infrastructure 19 Population 20 Education 23 Health 24 Natural resources and the environment 25 Transport and communications 28 Energy provision 29 The economy 29 Economic structure 30 Economic policy 37 Economic performance 41 Economic sectors 41 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 41 Mining and semi-processing 41 Manufacturing 43 Construction 44 Financial services 47 Other services 49 The external sector 49 Trade in goods 51 Invisibles and the current account 52 Capital flows and foreign debt 53 Foreign reserves and the exchange rate 55 Appendices 55 Sources of information 56 Reference tables 56 Population 56 Labour force 57 Transport statistics 57 National energy statistics 58 Government finances 58 Money supply © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2000 EIU Country Profile 2000 2 58 Interest rates 59 Gross domestic product 59 Gross domestic product by expenditure 59 Gross domestic product by sector 60 Prices 61 Wage indices 61 Manufacturing production 61 Miscellaneous manufacturing statistics 62 Construction statistics 62 Banking statistics 63 Stockmarket indicators 63 Retail sales 63 Tourism statistics 64 Domestic exports by main commodity section 64 Re-exports by end-use category 64 Imports by end-use category 65 Trade volume indices 65 Domestic exports by main destination 65 Re-exports 66 Imports by major trading partner 66 Trade in services 66 Trend of foreign trade 67 Direction and composition of foreign trade, 1999 68 Balance of payments 69 External debt 69 Foreign-exchange reserves 70 Exchange rates Macau 71 Basic data 72 Political background 72 Historical background 74 Constitution and institutions 76 Resources and infrastructure 76 Population 77 Education 77 Health 77 Natural resources and the environment 78 Transport and communications 79 Energy provision 79 The economy 79 Economic structure 80 Economic policy 80 Economic performance EIU Country Profile 2000 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2000 3 81 Economic sectors 81 Agriculture and fishing 82 Manufacturing 83 Construction 83 Financial services 84 Other services 85 The external sector 85 Trade in goods 87 Invisibles and the current account 87 Exchange rate 88 Appendices 88 Sources of information 88 Reference tables 88 Population 89 Labour force 89 Enrolment in education institutions 90 Transport and communications 90 National energy statistics 90 Government finances 91 Money supply 91 Gross domestic product 91 Gross domestic product by expenditure 92 Prices 92 Construction statistics 92 Tourism 93 Trend of foreign trade 93 Exports by main sector 93 Imports by end-use category 93 Exports by main destination 94 Imports by main source 94 External debt 94 Exchange rates © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2000 EIU Country Profile 2000 4 Hong Kong Hong Kong Basic data Land area 1,097 sq km Hong Kong Island 80 sq km Kowloon 47 sq km New Territories and outlying islands 970 sq km (Reclamation since 1851) 60 sq km Population 6,843,000 (mid-1999 official estimate) Main regions Population in ‘000 (mid-1998) Hong Kong Island 1,394 Kowloon 2,101 New Territories 3,090 All islands 84 Marine population 15 Climate Sub-tropical Weather in Victoria Hottest months, July and August, 24-34°C; coldest month, March, 4-26°C; (altitude 33 metres) driest month, December, 46.6 mm average rainfall; wettest month, July, 547 mm average rainfall Languages English and Chinese (mainly Cantonese) Measures UK imperial system changing to metric system. Local measures are used including: 10 fan=1 tsun (Chinese inch)=0.037 metres; 10 tsun=1 check (Chinese foot)=0.371 metres; 10 tsin=1 leung (tael)=37.8 g; 16 leung=1 kan (catty)=0.605 kg; 100 kan=1 tam (picul) = 60.48 kg Currency 1 Hong Kong dollar=100 cents. Annual average exchange rate in 1999: HK$7.76:US$1. Exchange rate on July 14th 2000: HK$7.8:US$1 Time GMT +8 hours Public holidays January 1st, Chinese New Year (three days in late January or early February), Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday, Ching Ming Festival (one day, early April), Labour Day (May 1st), Buddha’s Birthday (May 22nd), Dragon Boat Festival (one day at the end of May or in early June), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (July 1st), the day following Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (late September/early October), National Day (October 1st), Chung Yeung (one day, second half of October), December 25th and the first business day following EIU Country Profile 2000 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2000 Hong Kong 5 Political background On July 1st 1997 Hong Kong, which had been a UK colony since 1841, became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Hong Kong is now ruled on the basis of a mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which guarantees the SAR its own legislature, legal and judicial system and full economic autonomy, while giving the central government in Beijing res- ponsibility for defence and foreign affairs. The SAR has an executive-led government, headed by the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, who was appointed by a 400-member Election Committee in December 1996. The current Legislative Council (Legco) was formed by elections in May 1998; the next Legco poll is due to be held in September 2000. Historical background Colonisation by Britain: Until it was seized from China by the British navy in January 1841 at the gunboat diplomacy height of the first opium war (1839-43), Hong Kong Island was home to fewer than 6,000 Chinese inhabitants, two-thirds of them farmers, one-third fishermen. The then foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston, referred to it famously, and largely accurately, as “a barren island with hardly a house upon it”. Thereafter it grew rapidly as an entrepôt for trade between the Chinese empire, which Britain prised open with its gunboats, and the rest of the world. At the end of the second opium war, in 1860, Britain extended its territorial holdings to include Kowloon, situated on the mainland peninsula facing Hong Kong Island, and Stonecutters Island. Rapid population growth soon robbed the colony of land on which to grow food, while in the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese war (1894-95) the UK felt the need for a defensive zone from which to protect Hong Kong from attack by the other imperialist powers. In 1898 China was therefore forced to cede to the UK the New Territories—the land north of Kowloon up to what is now the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone—plus 235 islands, on a 99-year lease, to expire in June 1997. With the exception of the second world war, when the territory was occupied by Japan, Hong Kong remained a colony ruled directly by the British crown through an appointed governor, up to its retrocession to China on July 1st 1997.