Page 143 - 大舜基金(十周年紀念特刊)
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Hong Kong’s future is closely                        domestic and foreign situations. With the support
          related to Greater Bay Area                          from the provincial government, various industries
                                                               and cities are deeply integrated. For example,
                                                               when manufacturing and export industries suffered
          2020  has  been  a  challenging  year  for  most     severely from COVID-19, Guangdong has reduced
          countries. The abruptly overwhelming pandemic has    the  RRR (Reserve Requirement  Ratio),  lowered
          cornered everything within the economic domain       key interest rates, provided special refinancing to
          into the  predicament  of  stagnancy,  ranging  from   key  enterprises  and  allowed temporarily  deferred
          economic growth to production lines. With different   repayment of principal and interest, in order to
          COVID-19 virus variants found all over the world,    encourage  financial  agencies  to  cut  off  fees  and
          the contagiousness builds up with the variations. In   surrender part of their profits, as well as pushing
          this case, even with vaccination schemes carried out   forward  the integration of  the  financial  sector
          effectively and quickly, the economy might still need   within the bay area. Apart from that, 2020 has also
          time to react and get back on track.                 witnessed the development of Shenzhen-Hong Kong
                                                               Innovation and  Technology Co-operation Zone,
          Luckily when other countries are baffled with        Hengqin’s special business registration procedures,
          COVID-19 and its aftermaths, factories in China      the business mediation centre of the Greater Bay
          were  able  to  resume  production  after  stoppage   Area, and so on.
          and  the  economy  started  to  rebound,  thanks  to
          the resolute and strict measures adopted by the      At the Fourth Session of the  Thirteenth National
          Chinese government to hold back the spread of the    People’s Congress earlier this year, Governor of
          pandemic. Among all the main economies globally,     Guangdong Ma Xingrui brought forward a framework
          China is the only country with a positive growth;    of future development of the bay area, including
          besides, China has surpassed the United States to    taking measures to make a convenience for practice
          become the largest recipient of FDI (Foreign Direct   of professional services of Hong Kong and Macao
          Investment) in 2020.                                 in Guangdong, such as legal services, medical
                                                               services, construction and engineering services, and
          It is noticeable that in 2020, the performances of   etc. It is predictable that the industrial integration
          cities within the Greater Bay Area were better than the   among cities within the bay area will be greatly
          average level of the whole country. The GDP (Gross   accelerated when the pandemic ends.
          Domestic  Product)  growth  of  Guangdong  Province
          was 2.3% over the year, reaching 11 trillion Yuan.   As a key bridgehead of the 21  Century Maritime
                                                                                             st
          This amount has even dwarfed that of South Korea,    Silk Road of the Belt and Road Initiative and the
          the biggest economy among the Four Asian Tigers      “external cycle” of dual circulation, the Greater
          (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong).      Bay Area enjoys a wealth of opportunities and
          This marks the completion of the expectation of Deng   gains  if  functioned  properly.  Hong  Kong,  as  an
          Xiaoping during his southern tour back in 1992.      open economy enjoying the closest relation with
                                                               international societies, markets and industries in
          The economy and industrial chains of the Greater     the bay area, can act as an important role linking
          Bay Area are strong and indomitable to resist against   up  mainland  enterprises  and  global  markets. The
          adversity, and I truly believe that Hong Kong’s future   process of cooperative interaction with surrounding
          after  the  pandemic  will  be  more  and  more  closely   cities will also be beneficial to Hong Kong, injecting
          related to the bay area, by complying with the trend   innovative motion into our economy, giving impetus
          of inclusive development.                            to the upgrading and transformation of Hong Kong
                                                               society and industries, and eventually solving the
          Ever since the proposal of the Guangdong-Hong        long-existing core problems of our city.
          Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangdong Province
          is sparing no efforts to develop the area and take
          opportune measures according to the changing



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