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Reporter: How critical are the situations Hong Kong entrepreneurs operating their businesses in the Mainland are facing? Will they go under if the Central Government dosen¡¦t take measures?
Chief Executive: I think all of us are very anxious to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Those operating in Hong Kong and those operating in the Mainland, particularly manufacturers working in the Mainland, have been the object of my visit and all our work. The help given them covers a full range. I just described them. I think we are going to pursue these proposals. I am sure they are facing a very difficult time and it will turn rather critical in the coming months when orders begin to dry up. This is exactly the reason why we are very anxious to listen to their views, find out exactly what these difficulties are, and try to address them as quickly as possible. Obtaining credits is one of the main issues. We are trying to help them through injecting liquidity in our banks, encouraging our banks using a special policy which I just announced through the special project for SMEs and various schemes we have introduced now, last month and the one we announced the day before yesterday. I am sure it would help them eventually and I hope this measure would be implemented as quickly as possible. Mainland authorities are also helping them through funding, through the banking network. The situation is serious, but we are equally taking very serious measures to help them.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Issued at HKT 21:10
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