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Home > Corporate Information > Economic Research > Economic Indicators > July, 1999

July, 1999

BANKING

Amount

% change, yoy, unless otherwise stated

($bn)

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

5/99

5/99

4/99

Q1/99

Q4/98

Q3/98

Q2/98

1998

1997

1996

HKD M0 (in HKD) 84.1 4.7 5.0 5.3 0.7 (2.0) (3.1) 0.7 5.3 7.3
HKD M1 (in HKD) 178.1 2.9 (2.0) (2.0) (5.2) (17.2) (17.0) (5.2) (5.1) 15.5
HKD M2 (in HKD) 1,844.5 10.5 10.1 8.5 9.9 3.6 0.4 9.9 9.9 19.3
HKD M3 (in HKD) 1,855.9 10.3 9.9 8.2 9.4 3.2 0.3 9.4 9.9 18.9
Spread (Prime-Hibor3) (pa) (%) na 3.1 3.45

2.97

3.63

0.18

2.32

1.86

1.71

3.07

Res. mortg. loans outstanding
(before adjusted to reclassification) na 8.2 7.7 7.9 9.6 9.4 16.9 9.6 28.3 18.9
(after adjusted to reclassification) 473.1 na na

na

na

na

na

na

na

na

Loans-to-Deposits Ratio (pa) (%)
(Total) na 98.6 100.4 106.6 114.4 120.4 135.7 128.8 158.1 164.2
(HKD) na 96.7 96.7 100.5 101.2 105.1 112.1 107.9 110.3 106.0
Foreign Currency Reserves^ (in US$bn) 88.9 88.9 89.5 89.5 89.6 88.4 96.5 89.6 93.2 69.6
Deposits 2,989.9 12.0 11.0 8.8 10.9 6.2 1.7 10.9 8.4 10.2
HKD Deposits @ 1,708.2 10.8 10.0 8.1 9.7 2.6 (0.6) 9.7 9.8 19.5
FC Deposits # 1,281.7 13.5 12.4 9.7 12.6 11.3 4.9 12.6 6.6 (0.4)
Loans & Advances 2,947.7 (19.5) (18.9) (18.1) (19.8) (21.4) (16.1) (19.8) 5.3 4.7
Loans in HKD 1,652.4 (5.3) (4.6) (3.6) (2.7) (4.8) 3.0 (2.7) 20.4 16.9
Loans in FC 1,295.3 (32.4) (31.4) (30.7) (32.3) (33.5) (28.5) (32.3) (3.6) (1.4)
Loans for use in HK1 2,007.6 (9.3) (8.0) (6.9) (5.5) (3.5) 4.1 (5.5) 22.6 16.0
Loans for use outside HK2 940.1 (35.0) (34.7) (34.3) (36.7) (41.1) (35.8) (36.7) (9.8) (3.4)
Loans for use in HK (eop) na na na (6.9) (5.5) (3.5) 4.1 (5.5) 22.6 15.9
To purchase residential properties na na na 8.1 9.1 8.1 16.0 9.1 28.8 20.9
Property Development & Investment na na na (6.5) (10.1) 0.7 7.3 (10.1) 31.6 26.0
Trade Finances1 na na na (24.6) (22.5) (16.8) (9.7) (22.5) 4.3 6.7
Financial Concerns na na na (20.0) (7.0) (1.8) 8.0 (7.0) 26.2 16.7
Wholesale & Retail Trade na na na (14.2) (13.6) (4.8) (2.4) (13.6) 15.7 6.3
Manufacturing na na na (15.0) (15.5) (10.8) (8.0) (15.5) 3.8 7.6
Credit Card na na na 11.9 13.7 20.7 26.6 13.7 29.0 17.3
Consumer Finance ¡± na na na (13.9) (11.7) (11.3) 1.0 (11.7) 19.8 13.5
PRIVATE CONSUMPTION

% change, yoy, unless otherwise stated

Amount

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

4/99

4/99

3/99

Q1/99

Q4/98

Q3/98

Q2/98

1998

1997

1996

Retail Sales (Value)

$14.2bn

(10.0) (14.0) (13.0) (18.9) (19.4) (15.5) (16.8) 4.9 6.3
(Volume)

na

(4.0) (9.6) (9.4) (16.7) (19.7) (16.3) (16.8) 1.1 1.6
Restaurant Receipts (Value)

$13.8bn(99Q1)

na

na

(2.0)

(2.0)

(4.4) (4.0) (3.9) 6.0 5.0
(Volume)

na

na

na

(1.0)

(3.0)

(5.9) (6.7) (6.2) 2.0 2.0
Department Store (Value)

na

(16.2) (20.3) (17.5) (25.5) (26.6) (26.4) (26.5) (3.2) 4.5
(Volume)

na

(1.2) (9.8) (8.5) (21.2) (28.5) (28.8) (27.0) (9.3) (1.5)
Visitors Arrivals

0.89mn

11.1

12.4

11.1 5.5 10.5 (16.9) (8.0) (11.1) 14.7
PROPERTY

% change, yoy, unless otherwise stated

Amount

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

5/99

5/99

4/99

Q1/99

Q4/98

Q3/98

Q2/98

1998

1997

1996

Sales & purchase agreements
Value

$32.7bn

7.0

(14.1)

(18.4)

(5.1)

(78.2)

(64.8)

(54.3)

83

79

Number

12,150

26.0

(11.1)

10.9

18.0

(64.4)

(52.3)

(50.2)

39

51

New res. mortg. approved of 33 AIs
Number, during the period

9,547

52.2

70.0

26.3

29.9

(55.5)

(60.1)

(34.9)

18.5

68.5

Value per loan, during the period

$1.61mn

(3.6)

(14.5)

(27.8)

(24.1)

(28.6)

(10.5)

(12.0)

27.2

6.8

Private residential
     Rental (official)

na

na

na

(19.7)

(10.4)

(21.5)

(10.9)

(16.5)

13.5

(1.7)

     Price (official)

na

na

na

(14.0)

(40.0)

(38.3)

(25.2)

(52.9)

40.9

9.6

          HK

$4,368/sf

(12.4)

(20.7)

(25.5)

(37.6)

(42.3)

(26.5)

(29.4)

na

na

          KL

$3,882/sf

(11.7)

(18.4)

(25.3)

(39.6)

(44.8)

(30.3)

(31.9)

na

na

          NT

$3,247/sf

(8.0)

(18.6)

(21.5)

(37.2)

(44.4)

(32.8)

(32.2)

na

na

Rental yield (%) :                    
HK na 4.07 4.04 4.23 4.35 4.43 3.99 4.1 3.7 na
KL

na

4.42

4.24

4.49

4.62

4.78

4.49

4.5

3.9

na

NT

na

3.70

3.70

3.71

3.83

3.90

3.56

3.6

3.1

na

Residential construction completed (sq.m.), ytd

189.5thou.
Feb

26.6
Feb

9.2
Jan

na

1.1

42.3

(6)

22.9

(7)

(13)

Res.l construction consent to start work (sq.m.), ytd

304thou. Feb

127.0
Feb

33.2
Jan

na

57.8

(29.8)

(39)

(9.7)

54

54

MACRO INDICATORS

Amount

% change, yoy unless otherwise stated

($bn)

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

5/99

5/99

4/99

Q1/99

Q4/98

Q3/98

Q2/98

1998

1997

1996

GDP

na

na

na

(3.5)

(5.7)

(6.9)

(5.1)

(5.1)

5.3

4.5

Composite CPI

na

(4.0)

(3.8)

(1.8)

(0.7)

2.8

4.4

2.8

5.8

6.3

Labour
Unemployment Rate (%)

na

6.3

6.3

6.0 5.5 4.9 4.4

4.7

2.2

2.8

Unemployed ('000 people)

na

216.0

216.0

207.6

194.1

179.4

143.7

157.6

71.3

86.1

External Trade
Total Exports 108.6 (4.1) (8.1) (9.0) (13.6) (10.3) (3.1) (7.4) 4.2 4.0
     Domestic Exports 13.8 (15.0) (17.4) (12.2) (19.0) (11.9) (3.6) (10.9) (0.4) (8.4)
     Re-exports 94.8 (2.3) (6.7) (8.5) (12.7) (10.1) (3.0) (6.9) 5.0 6.6
Total Imports 108.9 (12.5) (14.9) (13.8) (18.2) (15.5) (6.0) (11.5) 5.2 3.0
Trade Balance (in $bn) (0.3) (0.3) (6.7) (12.9) (8.1) (6.1) (35.0) (81.4) (159.1) (137.8)

^ Foreign Currency Reserves in Land Fund are not included before June 30, 1997.

Consumer finance included individual private and business loans other than property purchases & credit card advance.

1 Loans to finance merchandising trade not touching HK would be included in trade finance & loans for use in HK.

2 Others loans where the place of use is not known would be included in loans for use outside HK.

pa: Period averages @ adjusted to include swap deposits
# adjusted to exclude swap deposits eop: End-of-period
na: Not applicable e: Estimate

This material is prepared by the Economic Research Department. Data on Hong Kong are obtained from the Census and Statistics Department & the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. It is based upon information which we consider reliable. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

KEY INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INDICATORS
(Update: 16th July, 1999)
Country Unemployment
Rate
Inflation
Rate
Real GNP/GDP
Growth Rate
Trade Balance
(US$ bn)
Money Supply
(narrow)
Prime Lending
Rate
US 4.3% (Jun) 2.1% (May) 4.0% (Q1) -25.50 (Apr) 2.4% (May) 8.00%
UK 6.2% (Apr) 1.3% (May) 0.6% (Q1) -3.51 (Apr) 6.6% (May) 5.00%
Euro-11 10.3% (May) 0.9% (May) 1.8% (Q1) 5.24 (Apr) 11.3% (Apr) 4.15%
Japan 4.6% (May) -0.4% (May) 0.1% (Q1) 10.27 (Apr) 11.0% (May) 1.375%
Australia 7.2% (Jun) 1.2% (Q1) 4.8% (Q1) -0.94 (May) 7.6% (May) 8.75%
Canada 7.6% (Jun) 1.6% (May) 3.2% (Q1) 1.64 (Apr) 1.1% (May) 6.25%
China 3.1%* -2.2% (May) 8.3% (Q1) 1.9 (May) 13.3% (Apr) 5.85%**
Hong Kong 6.3% (Mar-May) -4.0% (May) -3.4% (Q1) -0.04 (May) 2.9% (May) 8.25%
* Official figure, end of 1998
** One-year lending rate

Chart 1: With the property and stock markets become more active, savings and demand deposits rebound.


Chart 2: In the past few months, the property market seems to have bottomed out, as buyers' confidence appears to be restoring.



Chart 3: Although the annual growth of retain sales remains in negative territory, the magnitude of decline has narrowed.