HK placed on watch list, despite maintaining A1 credit rating
Coface, the international credit insurance and credit management group, has maintained Hong Kong's A1 rating but has placed the city on a negative watch list. It said Hong Kong, with its open economy, would be affected by the world economic turmoil and predicted that cases of late payments and payment defaults would increase. 'We recently saw a significant increase of companies closing down in southern China,' said Xavier Farcot, Coface's deputy regional managing director for greater China. 'These companies were related to, or had investments from, Hong Kong companies. Slowdowns in the US and Europe are already affecting exports from Hong Kong to these regions and should continue in coming months.'
Retailers to seek rent cut
The Hong Kong Retail Management Association will send letters to all shop owners asking them to cut rents by 20 per cent for six months. The association's chairwoman, Caroline Mak Sui-king, said business at fashion and shoe outlets had dropped by 20 per cent and many shops were on the verge of closing as a result.
614 wage cases prosecuted
Prosecutions were launched in 614 cases of unpaid wages in the first three quarters of the year, with 148 cases involving restaurants, compared with 77 last year, Commissioner for Labour Cherry Tse Ling Kit-ching said. Mrs Tse also said the Labour Department was investigating cases involving restaurants that planned to cut pay without obtaining workers' consent. She said employers had no right to change the terms of staff contracts without first consulting their employees.
