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The following is a transcript (English part) of a stand-up media session by the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, after attending the Economic Freedom Index 2001 luncheon today (November 1):

Financial Secretary: I am of course very excited by this honour to be declared the freest economy for the seventh year by the Heritage Foundation. This is not only a philosophical belief. Behind this it means Hong Kong has a very free and very competitive market where individual firms compete on their own strength in a competitive environment without government intervention. Of course, there are criticisms as well of Hong Kong. Not only in this appraisal, but also in other appraisals of Hong Kong. We should consider these quietly and fairly and consider to what extent we could improve ourselves in our trading environment in a way we conduct business. I am very happy to say that this year we are going to do very well in economic terms. We are going to make 8.5 per cent in GDP growth. For the coming year we are quite robust as well. But it will not be 8.5 per cent. That is rather unusual achievement this year and our trend growth rate, as you know, is between four to five per cent. The exact percentage will be assessed when I do my next Budget in March.

But next year will be quite a good year, having regard to the prospect that China will become a member of the World Trade Organisation that will add as a magnet attracting new businesses to this part of the world. And a bulk of that business, I am sure, will come to Hong Kong. That will benefit our trade, our transportation sector and our banking sector, as well as our manufacturing industries.

Reporter: what would you say to the criticism that the wealth is unevenly distributed in Hong Kong?

Financial Secretary: It is a capitalist society. Uneven distribution of wealth is a symbol of all capitalist societies. I don't think I can do very much about it. But what is happening here is the Government is acutely aware of this situation and doing what is best it could be. For instance, the amount of investments which the Chief Executive has proposed to invest in Hong Kong, the amount of resources we are now devoting to training and retraining to making sure that those less fortunate part of our society will be given opportunities to progress and do better in coming years.

(Please also refer to the Chinese part)

End/Wednesday, November 1, 2000

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