As an important international and regional, financial and business centre, Hong Kong compiles a wide variety of economic and social statistics to help investors make decisions and assist government officials in assessing and formulating policies. A new statistical system was recently set up for compiling Balance of Payment (BoP) accounts in Hong Kong. The first set of complete BoP statistics, relating to 1997, has just been published by the Census and Statistics Department. BoP statistics are useful for a wide range of analyses relating to income growth, relationships between trade in goods and services and direct investment flows, international banking transactions, financial market developments and others. In particular, the statistics will help show what forces affect the value of the Hong Kong dollar. The statistics also provide valuable information about the supply of foreign exchange in Hong Kong's financial system. In essence, BoP is a statistical statement which summarises the economic transactions of Hong Kong with other economies in the world, covering a specific period of time. Following this, a BoP surplus will be recorded if Hong Kong receives more foreign currencies than it pays in relation to its external financial and economic transactions. The size of the surplus is equal to the overall net inflow of funds to Hong Kong from the rest of the world. Conversely, there will be a BoP deficit which is equal to its net outflow of funds to the other economies. A complete BoP account comprises a current account and a capital and financial account. Readers who are interested in more details of the concepts and standard components of the BoP account and the uses and interpretation of BoP statistics may refer to the pamphlet entitled A Brief Guide to Concepts of Balance of Payments. Copies of the pamphlet are available free from the reception counters of the Census and Statistics Department. For more information on this series of articles, write to the General Statistics Branch (2) of the Census and Statistics Department at Wan Chai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, or call 2582-4732
