Financial Capsules

Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$122.4 billion at the end of March 2005.

In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, India and Russia. 

Unemployment and Underemployment Decrease for December 
2004 – February 2005   
According to the latest labour force statistics released in March by the Census and Statistics Department, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 6.4% in November 2004 - January 2005 to 6.1% (provisional figure) in December 2004 - February 2005, the lowest level since September - November 2001. The underemployment rate also declined from 3.1% to 3.0% (provisional figure for December 2004 - February 2005).

Decreases in the unemployment rate were mainly observed in the real estate, sanitary services, amusement and recreational services, and retail trade sectors. As to the underemployment rate, decreases were mainly seen in the construction, communications, business services and manufacturing sectors.

A Government spokesman noted that the improvement was mainly due to the combined influence of continued expansion in overall employment and a slight reduction in the total labour supply.

2004 a Record Breaker for Cathay Pacific 
Cathay Pacific Airways recently reported its second best full-year results on record with an attributable profit of HK$4,417 million (C$738 million) in 2004, compared to HK$1,303 million (C$222 million) in 2003. Turnover increased by 32% from last year to a record HK$39,065 million (C$6,528 million). 

The airline carried a record 13,664,000 passengers and 972,416 tonnes of cargo. Its Chinese Mainland network was extended with a daily service to Beijing and, in early 2005, passenger service to Xiamen and freighter service to Shanghai. 

Demand from both business and leisure travellers remained strong throughout the year, according to the airline. Passenger capacity increased by almost 25% over 2003. 

December Visitor Arrivals Set New High 
Visitor arrivals in Hong Kong in December 2004 reached 2,085,127, the highest single-month total on record. The achievement represents 16.3% growth on the December 2003.

The strong December performance took total arrivals for 2004 to 21,810,630, comfortably outstripping the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s forecast of 21.36 million. Overall growth for the year was 40.4% compared with 2003, when Hong Kong was badly affected by the impact of SARS.

Many of Hong Kong’s key source markets recorded their best-ever figures during 2004, including Mainland China, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and India, as well as the smaller markets of New Zealand, the Netherlands and South Africa. In addition, arrivals from the United Kingdom were their highest since 1996.

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