Tag Archives: China

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (December 16) the December 2019 issue of the “Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics” (HKMDS).

     Apart from providing up-to-date statistics, this issue also contains three feature articles entitled “Salary Statistics of Middle-level Managerial and Professional Employees, 2009 to 2019”, “The Four Key Industries in the Hong Kong Economy” and “Analysis of Hong Kong’s External Merchandise Trade by Industry”.

“Salary Statistics of Middle-level Managerial and Professional Employees, 2009 to 2019”

     This feature article describes the movements of the salaries of middle-level managerial and professional employees in selected industry sections during the period from 2009 to 2019. Up-to-date statistics on the entitlement of such employees to various types of fringe benefits are also presented.

     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Wages and Labour Costs Statistics Section, C&SD (Tel: 2887 5230; email: mpes@censtatd.gov.hk).

“The Four Key Industries in the Hong Kong Economy”

     The Government has been actively pursuing economic development in order to keep up the competitive advantage of Hong Kong. The traditional Four Key Industries in Hong Kong, namely financial services, tourism, trading and logistics, and professional and producer services, have been the driving force of Hong Kong’s economic growth, providing impetus to growth of other sectors and creating employment.

     This feature article analyses the economic contribution and employment situation in respect of the Four Key Industries in 2018.  Taken together, the share of the total value added of the Four Key Industries in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 57.3%, while the percentage share of total employment was 46.3%. Compared with 2017, the value added of financial services industry recorded the highest growth rate (+10.9%), or 19.7% of GDP. The industry also employed 263 000 persons in 2018, or 6.8% of total employment.

     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the National Income Branch, C&SD (Tel :3903 7002; email: gdp-p@censtatd.gov.hk).

“Analysis of Hong Kong’s External Merchandise Trade by Industry”

     The C&SD has recently compiled a set of statistics on trade by industry of importers/exporters in order to provide insights into the external merchandise trading activities of individual industries.

     In 2018, “import/export and wholesale trades” and “transportation, storage, postal and courier services” were the two major industries, together contributing about 88% of the total trade value. On the export side, the contribution of small and medium sized enterprises in these two industries was 67% and 50% of their respective exports.

     This feature article also presents further analyses of imports and exports of major industries by major trading partner and major commodity group.

     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Trade Analysis Section, C&SD (Tel: 2582 4914; email: trade@censtatd.gov.hk).

     Published in bilingual form, the HKMDS is a compact volume of official statistics containing about 140 tables. It collects up-to-date statistical series on various aspects of the social and economic situation of Hong Kong. Topics include population; labour; external trade; National Income and Balance of Payments; prices; business performance; energy; housing and property; government accounts, finance and insurance; and transport, communications and tourism. For selected key statistical items, over 20 charts depicting the annual trend in the past decade and quarterly or monthly trend in the recent two years are also available. Users can download the Digest free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp460.jsp?productCode=B1010002).

     Enquiries about the contents of the Digest can be directed to the Statistical Information Dissemination Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4738; email: gen-enquiry@censtatd.gov.hk). read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) today (December 16) invites applications for a trial scheme by which under-occupation households residing in the HA’s public rental housing (PRH) estates whose family members are all aged 70 or above are allowed to enjoy full rent exemptions upon transfer to other PRH flats of suitable sizes.
 
     The initiative, which aims at enhancing the effective use of public housing resources, was suggested in the Policy Address 2018, and was approved by the Subsidised Housing Committee of the HA at its meeting in June.
 
     The HA will allocate 300 PRH flats for the trial scheme. Eligible applicants will be given a maximum of three housing offers of either a new or refurbished flat.
 
     “We hope to offer a choice to elderly under-occupation households, while helping recovery of larger units for re-allocation,” a spokesman for the HA said.
 
     “A one-off domestic removal allowance will be provided to households upon successful transfer.
 
     “The rent exemption will be withdrawn if a household subsequently fails the eligibility criterion that all members of the household are aged 70 or above, or when additional resources are given to them under different housing policies, such as household splitting,” the spokesman said.
 
     The trial scheme will be reviewed after its implementation for one year, he added.
 
     Notification letters will be served to individual eligible households. Applications are open throughout the year with a limited quota and on a first-come-first-served basis. read more

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Monday, December 16, 2019 is 106.3 (same as last Saturday’s index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Saturday, December 14, 2019 was 106.3 (up 0.4 against last Friday’s index). read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
 
     The Legislative Council (LegCo) Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold a public hearing on “Provision of consultancy, research and development and training services by the Hong Kong Productivity Council” (Chapter 2) of the Director of Audit’s Report No.73 at 9am tomorrow (December 17) in Conference Room 1 of the LegCo Complex.
 
     Seven witnesses have been invited to appear before the above hearing to respond to points raised in the Report and answer questions asked by PAC members.
 
     The programme for the public hearing is as follows:
 
Date: December 17 (Tuesday)
Time: 9am
Venue: Conference Room 1

Witnesses
Mr Nicholas W Yang
Secretary for Innovation and Technology

Ms Annie Choi
Permanent Secretary for Innovation and Technology

Ms Rebecca Pun
Commissioner for Innovation and Technology

Mr Ivan Lee
Deputy Commissioner for Innovation and Technology

Mr Mohamed D Butt
Executive Director, Hong Kong Productivity Council

Dr Lawrence Cheung
Chief Innovation Officer, Hong Kong Productivity Council

Ms Vivian Lin
Chief Financial Officer, Hong Kong Productivity Council

     PAC is chaired by Mr Abraham Shek, and its Deputy Chairman is Mr Kenneth Leung. Other members include Mr Paul Tse, Mr Steven Ho, Mr Lam Cheuk-ting, Mr Shiu Ka-fai and Ms Tanya Chan. read more

     With the Christmas and New Year holidays approaching, Hong Kong Customs today (December 16) reminds members of the public that they should pay attention to whether the products they purchased when travelling contain cannabis since illicit import of cannabis is a criminal offence. They are urged not to break the law.

     A spokesman for Hong Kong Customs said the department attaches great importance to combating trafficking in dangerous drugs, and takes rigorous enforcement action in accordance with Hong Kong’s laws. The recreational use of cannabis has been legalised in individual overseas jurisdictions where products containing cannabis or controlled cannabinoids (such as tetrahydro-cannabinol, or “THC”) in the form of food, drinks or topicals, may be available for sale. Customs reminds the public that cannabis and THC are controlled dangerous drugs in Hong Kong. It is a criminal offence to bring such products into Hong Kong.

     Cannabis and THC (a major cannabinoid present in cannabis plants) are dangerous drugs controlled under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Cap 134). Any products that contain cannabis or THC are also controlled under Cap 134.

     “Members of the public should pay attention to the packaging labels of the products concerned while making purchases in foreign places as well as the relevant domestic legislation in relation to cannabis, so as to avoid breaching the law inadvertently,” the spokesman continued.

     Under Cap 134, trafficking in dangerous drugs, or illicitly importing to and exporting from Hong Kong, procuring, supplying, manufacturing, or dealing in or with dangerous drugs, constitutes a criminal offence. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment and a fine of $5 million. Illicitly possessing, or smoking, inhaling, ingesting or injecting dangerous drugs is subject to a maximum penalty of imprisonment for seven years and a fine of $1 million.

     Customs has all along been closely monitoring the trends concerning dangerous drugs in other places and implements appropriate strategies. Stringent law enforcement is imposed on passenger and cargo clearance, including air postal packets and express cargo, to effectively combat drug trafficking activities and interdict the flow of dangerous drugs into Hong Kong.

     Customs also appeals to members of the public to report any suspected illicit drug-related activities through Customs’ 24-hour telephone hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk). read more