| Economy - overview | Hong Kong has a free market economy highly dependent on international trade. The territory has become more closely linked to mainland China over the past few years. Even before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration on 1 July 1997, it had extensive trade and investment ties with China. Hong Kong's service industry over the past decade has grown rapidly as its manufacturing industry has moved to the mainland. Hong Kong also has stepped up its efforts to gain approval to offer more mainland financial services in a bid to remain competitive with China's growing financial centers. Hong Kong's natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be imported. Gross imports and exports (including reexports to and from third countries) each exceed GDP in dollar value. Per capita GDP exceeds that of the four big economies of Western Europe. GDP growth averaged a strong 5% from 1989 to 2006, but Hong Kong suffered two recessions in the past eight years because of the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 and the global downturn in 2001-02. Although the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 also battered Hong Kong's economy, a solid rise in exports, a boom in tourism from the mainland because of China's easing of travel restrictions, and a return of consumer confidence resulted in the resumption of strong growth from late 2003 through 2006. Moreover, several large initial public offerings of Chinese companies on the Hong Kong stock exchange since late 2005 have helped to boost Hong Kong's status as a financial hub and have contributed to the improved performance of the market in late 2006. |
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| GDP | NA |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 6.8% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 0.1%
industry: 9%
services: 90.9% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | NA% |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 52.3 (2001) |
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| Labor force | 3.63 million (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | manufacturing 7.5%, construction 2.9%, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, and hotels 43.9%, financing, insurance, and real estate 19.6%, transport and communications 7.1%, community and social services 18.8%
note: above data exclude public sector (2005 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 4.9% (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $35.16 billion
expenditures: $33.02 billion; including capital expenditures of $5.9 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | textiles, clothing, tourism, banking, shipping, electronics, plastics, toys, watches, clocks |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 4% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 38.45 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 44.55 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity -
exports | 4.497 billion kWh (2005) |
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Electricity -
imports | 10.39 billion kWh (2005) |
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| Oil - production | 0 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 285,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | 0 bbl/day (2005) |
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| Oil - imports | 273,000 bbl/day (2005) |
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| Agriculture - products | fresh vegetables; poultry, pork; fish |
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| Exports | $611.6 billion f.o.b., including reexports (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | electrical machinery and appliances, textiles, apparel, footwear, watches and clocks, toys, plastics, precious stones, printed material |
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| Exports - partners | China 45%, US 16.1%, Japan 5.3% (2005) |
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| Imports | $329.8 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | raw materials and semi-manufactures, consumer goods, capital goods, foodstuffs, fuel (most is re-exported) |
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| Imports - partners | China 45%, Japan 11%, Taiwan 7.2%, Singapore 5.8%, US 5.1%, South Korea 4.4% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $472.9 billion (30 June 2006 est.) |
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| Currency code | HKD |
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| Exchange rates | Hong Kong dollars per US dollar - 7.7678 (2006), 7.7773 (2005), 7.788 (2004), 7.7868 (2003), 7.7989 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March |
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