The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
  
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), as representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSAR Government), announces today (January 15) the relevant per annum interest rate for the third interest payment of Silver Bond Series due 2022 (Issue Number 03GB2207R) (the Bonds) issued under the Retail Bond Issuance Programme of the Government Bond Programme.
 
     According to the Issue Circular dated July 4, 2019 for the Bonds, the third interest payment of the Bonds is scheduled to be made on January 29, 2021, and the relevant interest rate is scheduled to be determined and announced on January 15, 2021 as the higher of the prevailing Floating Rate and Fixed Rate. 
 
     On January 15, 2021, the Floating Rate and Fixed Rate are as follows:
 
Floating Rate: -0.77 per cent (Annex)
Fixed Rate: +3.00 per cent
 
     Based on the Floating Rate and Fixed Rate set out above, the relevant interest rate for the third interest payment is determined and announced as 3.00 per cent per annum.

     The Government announced today (January 15) that a new regulatory regime for insurance-linked securities business (ILS) will commence operation on March 29, 2021.
 
     ILS is a risk management tool that enables insurers or reinsurers to offload risks that they have underwritten to the capital market by way of securitisation. Enacted in July 2020, the Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 provides for, inter alia, a new ILS regulatory regime. For the purpose of implementing this new regime, the Government gazetted the Insurance (Authorization and Annual Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2021 today, and will gazette the Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (Commencement) Notice and the Insurance (Special Purpose Business) Rules on January 22.
 
     "The new ILS regulatory regime will broaden the range of risk management tools in Hong Kong and assist the insurance industry to seize the potential business opportunities in Asia, particularly those generated by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development," a spokesman for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said.
 
     The Insurance (Authorization and Annual Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2021 prescribes the fees payable by a special purpose insurer set up for ILS business to the Insurance Authority. The Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (Commencement) Notice appoints March 29, 2021, as the date on which the Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 will become effective. The Insurance (Special Purpose Business) Rules prescribes restrictions on the sale of ILS.
 
     The Insurance (Authorization and Annual Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2021 will be tabled before the Legislative Council for negative vetting on January 20, while the Insurance (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (Commencement) Notice and the Insurance (Special Purpose Business) Rules will be tabled on January 27.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (January 15) that in view of a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Bács-Kiskun County in Hungary, and a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza in Phu Yen Province in Vietnam, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) 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, and has established a protocol with Vietnam for the import of poultry eggs but not for poultry meat. According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 712 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from Hungary, and imported about 3.25 million poultry eggs from Vietnam in the first nine months of last year.
     
     "The CFS has contacted the Hungarian and Vietnamese authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE and the relevant authorities on avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate actions will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (January 15) the January 2021 issue of the "Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics" (HKMDS).

     Apart from providing up-to-date statistics, this issue also contains two feature articles entitled "Hong Kong's External Direct Investment Statistics, 2010 to 2019" and "The Four Key Industries in the Hong Kong Economy".

"Hong Kong's External Direct Investment Statistics, 2010 to 2019"

     Hong Kong is an international financial centre and commercial hub. It is also a gateway to the vast market of the mainland of China (the Mainland) as well as a platform for facilitating the Mainland enterprises to gain access to the global market. External direct investment (DI) between Hong Kong and the rest of the world, including the Mainland, is very sizable. Analysis of Hong Kong's DI statistics over the past years is useful in understanding the characteristics and trend of DI in Hong Kong.

     This feature article presents the salient features of Hong Kong's DI statistics in the past decade.

     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the Balance of Payments Branch (2), the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7016; email: di@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 2019. Taken together, the share of the total value added of the Four Key Industries in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 56.4%, while the percentage share of total employment was 45.4%. Compared with 2018, the value added of financial services industry recorded the largest growth (+8.4%) among the four industries, with its share to the GDP increased to 21.2%. The industry employed 272 600 persons in 2019, or 7.1% of total employment.

     For enquiries about this feature article, please contact the National Income Branch (2), the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7002; email: gdp-p@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 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 (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 4738; email: gen-enquiry@censtatd.gov.hk).

     The Town Planning Board announced today (January 15) that the Chief Executive in Council has referred the approved Shek Kip Mei Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) to the Board for amendment to reflect the latest land use proposals.

     The OZP incorporating the respective amendments will be exhibited for public inspection under the provisions of the Town Planning Ordinance.

     The Shek Kip Mei OZP was last approved by the Chief Executive in Council in July 2015.