Hong Kong

Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system would not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Hong Kong dollar (ISO code: HKD)
• Central bank discount rate: 0.5% (31 December 2009)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 5% (31 December 2009)
• Stock of money (M1): $127.3 billion (31 December 2009)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $757.6 billion (31 December 2009)

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	163 283	169 121	166 593	163 781	158 572	165 886	177 772	189 932	207 069	215 355
Govt. debt (% of GDP)
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

External links

• Hong Kong on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Hong Kong
• BBC country profile