************************
Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, on the latest unemployment rate today (June 17):
Reporter: Would you give us a forecast? Are you expecting that this downward trend is going to accelerate in the coming months?
Financial Secretary: It's very hard for me to forecast if it is going to accelerate, but I said on one occasion that I feel it would continue to go down. However, as I have said previously, the unemployment rate that we are facing, the challenges that we are facing, is a structural adjustment of our economy and the employment situation. It will be a difficult challenge, and we will all have to work together.
Reporter: Mr Tang, your last comment in English was still quite cautious. Can't you go out on a limb a little bit more and say maybe you can revise when you think the umemployment rate will go below seven? You have said it might go below seven before the end of the year, but aren't you optimistic enough that maybe you can revise it to sometime before the end of the year? Why are you so cautious?
Financial Secretary: I think our unemployment rate will fall below seven per cent some time before the end of the year. However, I am not happy that it simply falls below seven per cent, because whether it is high six or low six (per cent), it still means a fairly substantial percentage of people are unemployed. I think in the longer term we are still facing the pressure and the challenges of a structural change or adjustment.
Reporter: You also mention something that you are cautious about, including American interest rate. Can you list these in English again?
FS: I am generally optimistic about our economic outlook. However, there are three factors which we have to keep in view. They are the American interest rate, how fast and how steep it goes up; the Mainland structural adjustment; and thirdly oil prices. These are three factors which we need to keep a close eye on.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/ Thursday, June 17, 2004
NNNN
