The "Art><Creativity" exhibition series in the Greater Bay Area, co-organised by the Art Promotion Office and the Hong Kong Designers Association, is running in four cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great… read more
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released today (January 12) the results of the Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) for December 2020.
　　
The current diffusion index (DI) on business receipts amongst SMEs slipped markedly from 43.0 in November 2020 in the contractionary zone to 35.6 in December 2020, whereas the one-month’s ahead (i.e. January 2021) outlook DI on business receipts was 39.7. Analysed by sector, the current DIs on business receipts for all the surveyed sectors dropped in December 2020 as compared with previous month, particularly for the restaurants (from 41.0 to 14.3), wholesale trade (from 54.2 to 32.4), and logistics (from 44.6 to 34.5).
The current DI on new orders for the import and export trades decreased from 43.3 in November 2020 to 41.5 in December 2020, whereas the outlook DI on new orders in one month’s time (i.e. January 2021) was 43.2.
Commentary
A government spokesman said that business sentiment among SMEs worsened further in December 2020 amid the fourth wave of the local epidemic, with the sub-indices for all sectors falling by varying degrees. In particular, the sub-index for restaurants dipped to the lowest level since July 2020 amid the further tightening of social distancing measures.
The spokesman further pointed out that since early 2020, the Government has rolled out relief measures of unprecedented scale to preserve vitality of the economy, relieve people’s financial burdens and provide targeted support to hard-hit sectors. The relief measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund and the one-off measures in the 2020-21 Budget amounted to over $300 billion or around 11% of GDP. The Government will monitor the developments closely and maintain a countercyclical fiscal policy to mitigate the downward pressure on the economy and the impact on people’s livelihood.
Further information
The Monthly Survey on Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises aims to provide a quick reference, with minimum time lag, for assessing the short-term business situation faced by SMEs. SMEs covered in this survey refer to establishments with fewer than 50 persons engaged. Respondents were asked to exclude seasonal fluctuations in reporting their views. Based on the views collected from the survey, a set of diffusion indices (including current and outlook diffusion indices) is compiled. A reading above 50 indicates that the business condition is generally favourable, whereas that below 50 indicates otherwise. As for statistics on the business prospects of prominent establishments in Hong Kong, users may refer to the publication entitled “Report on Quarterly Business Tendency Survey” released by the C&SD.
It should be noted that the results of the survey should be interpreted with care. The survey solicits feedback from a panel sample of about 600 SMEs each month and the survey findings are thus subject to sample size constraint. Views collected from the survey refer only to those of respondents on their own establishments rather than those on the respective sectors they are engaged in. Besides, in this type of opinion survey on expected business situation, the views collected in the survey are affected by the events in the community occurring around the time of enumeration, and it is difficult to establish precisely the extent to which respondents’ perception of the business situation accords with the underlying trends. For this survey, main bulk of the data were collected in the last week of the reference month.
More detailed statistics are given in the “Report on Monthly Survey on the Business Situation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”. Users can download the publication at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp300.jsp?productCode=B1080015).
Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact Industrial Production Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7246; Fax: 2123 1048; email: sme-survey@censtatd.gov.hk). read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
Exchange Fund Bills tender results:
| Tender date | : | January 12, 2021 |
| Paper on offer | : | EF Bills |
| Issue number | : | Q2102 |
| Issue date | : | January 13, 2021 |
| Maturity date | : | April 14, 2021 |
| Amount applied | : | HK$113,975 MN |
| Amount allotted | : | HK$61,330 MN |
| Average yield accepted | : | 0.06 PCT |
| Highest yield accepted | : | 0.09 PCT |
| Pro rata ratio* | : | About 0 PCT |
| Average tender yield | : | 0.09 PCT |
| **************************** | ||
| Tender date | : | January 12, 2021 |
| Paper on offer | : | EF Bills |
| Issue number | : | H2131 |
| Issue date | : | January 13, 2021 |
| Maturity date | : | July 14, 2021 |
| Amount applied | : | HK$54,145 MN |
| Amount allotted | : | HK$18,000 MN |
| Average yield accepted | : | 0.07 PCT |
| Highest yield accepted | : | 0.08 PCT |
| Pro rata ratio* | : | About 34 PCT |
| Average tender yield | : | 0.09 PCT |
| Tender date | : | January 19, 2021 |
| Paper on offer | : | EF Bills |
| Issue number | : | Q2103 |
| Issue date | : | January 20, 2021 |
| Maturity date | : | April 21, 2021 |
| Tenor | : | 91 Days |
| Amount on offer | : | HK$55,549 MN |
| **************************** | ||
| Tender date | : | January 19, 2021 |
| Paper on offer | : | EF Bills |
| Issue number | : | H2132 |
| Issue date | : | January 20, 2021 |
| Maturity date | : | July 21, 2021 |
| Tenor | : | 182 Days |
| Amount on offer | : | HK$17,000 MN |
| **************************** | ||
| Tender date | : | January 19, 2021 |
| Paper on offer | : | EF Bills |
| Issue number | : | Y2185 |
| Issue date | : | January 20, 2021 |
| Maturity date | : | January 19, 2022 |
| Tenor | : | 364 Days |
| Amount on offer | : | HK$5,000 MN |
The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 is 100.7 (same as yesterday’s index). read more
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam at a media session before the Executive Council meeting today (January 12):
Reporter: Could you please clarify what you meant by adopting double standards by foreign countries when making remarks on the mass arrest, because in their joint statement, they accuse that the NSL (National Security Law) has been used to eliminate opposing political views? And can you make it clear here, will the authorities go after the ordinary citizens who voted in the unofficial primary? And the second question is regarding the case of the 12 Hongkongers, as the licence of the two lawyers helping some of them got revoked by the Chinese authorities, will the Hong Kong Government do anything on this? And the last question is that yesterday a judge took an unprecedented step of banning yellow masks in a courtroom. Do you think it’s an inappropriate act? Thanks.
Chief Executive: If I may I will answer the second and third questions first because it’s a very simple answer – I would not comment. I would not comment on how the legal system operates in another place. I would not comment on remarks made in Hong Kong’s courts. That should be well understood.
The first question is a question that should be very obvious, having regard to the recent incidents that have happened in the United States. When we mention about double standards being adopted by overseas officials and politicians when they commented on incidents in Hong Kong, the first double standard is the importance of national security. Why should Hong Kong not have the safeguards on national security when jurisdictions all over the world have series of legislation to safeguard their own national security? Are they suggesting that the safety of Hong Kong people is of lesser significance and importance to the people of Hong Kong than the American citizen in an American society? The first double standard that they have adopted is they uphold their own national security but at the same time belittle the need for national security in the People’s Republic of China, especially in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The second double standard is how one would see the rule of law. The rule of law requires enforcement of the law and the keeping of law and order in a city in order to safeguard the life and property of citizens. But since June 2019, everybody has seen what has happened in Hong Kong. We have rampant violence and riots undermining the safety of Hong Kong people, properties and businesses. But some overseas commentators or politicians were condoning or encouraging this sort of activities under the guise of democracy. When the same thing seemed to happen in their own country, they immediately took a very different approach to condemn the violence, and some said that this was verging on sedition in American society.
The third double standard is respect for the judicial system. I think all over the world, if we talk about the rule of law, one of the most important fundamentals is the courts, the independence of the courts as well as the quality of our judges. Hong Kong is very blessed to have a very distinguished judiciary supported by very distinguished judges. I would really appeal – especially we have a new Chief Justice installed yesterday – I would appeal to community at large to leave room for the courts to do their work, which is to uphold justice in Hong Kong without fear, favour, self-interest or deceit. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more