The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Bank of Singapore Limited relating to a fraudulent mobile application (App), which has been reported to the HKMA. A hyperlink to the press release is available on the HKMA website.
      
     The HKMA wishes to remind the public that banks will not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks which direct them to the banks’ websites to carry out transactions. They will not ask customers for sensitive personal information, such as login passwords or one-time password, by phone, email or SMS (including via embedded hyperlinks).
      
     Anyone who has provided his or her personal information, or who has conducted any financial transactions, through or in response to the App concerned, should contact the bank using the contact information provided in the press release, and report the matter to the Police by contacting the Crime Wing Information Centre of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012.

     â€‹The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (October 16) that in view of a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Fejér County and Hajdú-Bihar County in Hungary, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     A CFS spokesman said that Hong Kong has currently established a protocol with Hungary for the import of poultry meat but not for poultry eggs. According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 40 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Hungary in the first six months of this year.

     "The CFS has contacted the Hungarian authority over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (October 16) the October 2024 issue of the "Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics" (HKMDS).
 
     Apart from providing up-to-date statistics, this issue also contains one feature article entitled "Hong Kong's Air Cargo Statistics, 2014 to 2023".
 
"Hong Kong's Air Cargo Statistics, 2014 to 2023"
 
     The Hong Kong International Airport is one of the busiest and most advanced airports in the world. It consolidates Hong Kong's position as an international commerce hub and supports Hong Kong as an international logistics centre. In terms of air cargo throughput, the Hong Kong International Airport ranked first globally in 2023, at 4.3 million tonnes. This feature article provides trend analysis of the air cargo statistics of Hong Kong from 2014 to 2023.
 
     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Trade Statistics Processing Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4941; email: tsp_1@censtatd.gov.hk).
 
     Published in bilingual form, the HKMDS is a compact volume of official statistics containing about 130 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 at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1010002&scode=460).
 
     Enquiries about the contents of the Digest can be directed to the Statistical Information Dissemination Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4738; email: gen-enquiry@censtatd.gov.hk).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 is 104.7 (same as yesterday's index).

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 is 104.7 (same as yesterday's index).