Economy (Hong Kong)
===================


     Overview:
         Hong Kong has a bustling free market economy with few tariffs or nontariff
         barriers. Natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be
         imported. Manufacturing accounts for about 18% of GDP, employs 28% of the
         labor force, and exports about 90% of its output. Real GDP growth averaged a
         remarkable 8% in 1987-88, then slowed to 2.5-3.0% in 1989-90. Unemployment,
         which has been declining since the mid-1980s, is now about 2%. A shortage of
         labor continues to put upward pressure on prices and the cost of living.
         Short-term prospects remain solid so long as major trading partners continue
         to be reasonably prosperous. The crackdown in China in 1989-91 casts a
         shadow over the longer term economic outlook.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $80.9 billion, per capita $13,800; real growth
         rate 3.8% (1991 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         12.0% (1991 est.)
     Unemployment rate:
         2.0% (1991 est.)
     Budget:
         $8.8 billion (FY90)
     Exports:
         $82.0 billion (f.o.b., 1990), including reexports of $53.1 billion
       commodities:
         clothing, textiles, yarn and fabric, footwear, electrical appliances,
         watches and clocks, toys
       partners:
         China 25%, US 24%, Germany 7%, Japan 6%, UK 2%, (1990)
     Imports:
         $82.4 billion (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         foodstuffs, transport equipment, raw materials, semimanufactures, petroleum
       partners:
         China 37%, Japan 16%, Taiwan 9%, US 8% (1990)
     External debt:
         $9.5 billion (December 1990 est.)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 4% 1991 (est)
     Electricity:
         8,600,000 kW capacity; 25,637 million kWh produced, 4,378 kWh per capita
         (1991)
     Industries:
         textiles, clothing, tourism, electronics, plastics, toys, watches, clocks
     Agriculture:
         minor role in the economy; rice, vegetables, dairy products; less than 20%
         self-sufficient; shortages of rice, wheat, water
     Illicit drugs:
         a hub for Southeast Asian heroin trade; transshipment and major financial
         and money-laundering center
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $152 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $923 million
     Currency:
         Hong Kong dollar (plural - dollars); 1 Hong Kong dollar (HK$) = 100 cents
     Exchange rates:
         Hong Kong dollars (HK$) per US$ - 7.800 (1991), 7.790 (1990), 7.800 (1989),
         7.810 (1988), 7.760 (1987); note - linked to the US dollar at the rate of
         about 7.8 HK$ per 1 US$ since 1985
     Fiscal year:
         1 April - 31 March