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TRENDS                                                             September 2004 Issue

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Cash in Hand

trends.jpg (7127 bytes)More credit cards are in circulation in Hong Kong but fewer people are using them, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's latest survey on credit card lending has found. The amount charged off in the second quarter decreased for the seventh consecutive quarter to HK$0.72 billion or 1.34% of average receivables during the quarter. The "annualized" ratio was 5.37% compared with 6.34% in the previous quarter, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2001.

Survey on Credit Card Lending Q2 03 Q3 03 Q4 03 Q1 04 Q2 04
Total number of accounts ('000) 8,732 8,747 8,784 8,805 8,933
Quarterly change (%) -0.8 +0.2 +0.4 +0.2 +1.5
Yearly change (%) -6.4 -4.7 -0.9 +0.0 +2.3
Total receivables at period-end (HK$ Mn) 53,985 53,974 56,305 53,639 53,707
Quarterly change (%) -1.1 -0.0 +4.3 -4.7 +0.1
Yearly change (%) -10.4 -8.8 -5.0 -1.7 -0.5
Delinquent amount
> 90 days (HK$ Mn)		 688 662 519 421 343

More >>

Browsing for a Holiday

Hong Kong's top five travel Web sites saw a surge in visitors in Q2 this year as people browsed for bargins before taking to the high street. However, there is no clear answer as to whether increased surfing is translating into an increase in tickets purchased over the Internet, or whether consumers are simply conducting research online before purchasing offline from their favourite travel agent.                        

　 Qtr Ending June 04 Unique Audience Qtr Ending June 03 Unique Audience Change
TOTAL Visitors 1,281,000 1,170,000 9%
Yahoo! Travel 271,000 226,000 20%
China Travel Net Hong Kong 158,000 78,000 103%
Cathay Pacific Airlines 157,000 146,000 8%
ZUJI 149,000 NA NA
Wing On Travel 136,000 100,000 36%
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings NetView

　

Small Countries Invest More Abroad than Big Ones

How do countries stack up against one another in terms of their outward foreign direct investment (FDI) performance? The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) new Outward FDI Performance Index, turns up some surprising results. The survey measures the relative importance of a country's outward FDI against its economic size (as measured by GDP). Driven by the competitive pressures of a globalizing world economy, ownership advantages and location factors work together to lead firms -- large and small ones, from developed and developing countries alike -- to invest abroad by establishing foreign affiliates. These affiliates then become a source of the competitive strength of their respective corporate networks. More >>

Rank Economy 1988-1990 1993-1995 1999-2001 2001-2003
1 Hong Kong 1.9 4.7 11.7 10.7
2 Switzerland 3.7 4.5 4.9 5.1
3 Singapore 2.6 3.7 3.9 4.5
4 Belgium & Luxembourg 2.4 2.9 3.6 4.0
5 Netherlands 4.5 4.1 4.3 3.8
6 United Kingdom 2.9 2.7 3.0 2.9
7 Panama 8.9 6.3 2.3 2.8
8 Sweden 2.5 2.9 2.7 2.8
9 Finland 0.9 1.2 2.0 2.1
10 Denmark 0.6 1.3 2.0 1.9
11 France 1.0 1.4 1.7 1.8
12 Canada 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.7
13 Spain 0.4 0.6 1.4 1.4
14 Ireland 3.4 2.3 1.9 1.4
15 Malaysia 0.7 1.1 1.3 1.4
16 Germany 1.1 1.0 1.3 1.4
29 United States 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.8
47 Japan 0.7 0.6 0.3 0.3
Source: UNCTAD
Note: The Index is calculated as the size of a country's outward FDI in relation to its share of world GDP.

              


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