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The following is a transcript (English part) of a stand-up media session by the Financial Secretary, Mr Antony Leung, on the first quarter economic situation at Central Government Offices today (May 31):

Reporter: (How would you react to the latest forecast? Do you think there will be an improvement in the rest of the year? )

Financial Secretary: As expected, the first quarter GDP (Gross Domestic Product) number declined by 0.9 percent. In a way, it is widely expected that it'll be a negative number. But on a quarter-to-quarter basis, it actually increased. So it shows that the economic activities in Hong Kong are kind of coming out from the recession. We are optimistic that we can achieve our forecast of one percent this year. There are already signs of improvement in a number of sectors, including tourism, re-exports and also the activities in the property and stock markets. So we are optimistic that we can achieve the one percent forecast. But clearly it is unusual for the Government to change the forecast from our original one in March in these early days of the year. So whether there will be further upward adjustment of the GDP forecast, we will tell you in the second quarter.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

End/Friday, May 31, 2002

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