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The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa was very pleased to learn that Hong Kong's economy was recovering very well as the GDP growth for the first quarter was an impressive 14 per cent.

"We are confident that our economy will grow to six per cent for the whole of the year," Mr Tung said this evening (May 26).

Mr Tung attributed the economic recovery to the hard work and collective effort of all people of Hong Kong over last two years or so.

He said we would continue to be very watchful, particularly of external changing environment, the recent increase in interest rate in the United States, and the possible future increases that would affect our growth.

Mr Tung noted that while Hong Kong's economy was growing, there were certain sectors of the community who had not yet benefitted from this; such as those who were still unemployed and those who were at the lower income market.

The Chief Executive said the Government had been taking positive steps to help those who were affected by economic restructuring.

He noted that Legislative Council had just approved today a budget of $480 million for various training programmes such as the on-going "Youth Pre-employment Training Programme", the new "On-the-Job Training Programme" and "Information Technology Training".

End/Friday, May 26, 2000.

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