The announcement of the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" imposed by the US on its global trading partners has caused significant volatility in the international financial markets. The Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, said in a blog post today (April 13) that Hong Kong has strengthened its "round-the-clock, interconnected and cross-market" real-time surveillance in the past years, and that the market surveillance mechanism deployed by Hong Kong has continued to function after the announcement of the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" by the US. Since the beginning of last week, the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate has remained strong, and the Hong Kong dollar is still on the strong side of the US dollar, indicating that capital has remained in the Hong Kong market.
In addition, the Hong Kong stock market has generally stabilized after last Monday's fall. The Hang Seng Index closed at 20,914 points last Friday, still slightly above the level in early January this year, and the average daily turnover last week increased to HK$427.6 billion, about 68% higher than that of the previous week, reflecting that the market as a whole has continued to operate in a smooth and orderly manner in the past week, he said.
Chan pointed out that the government has been closely monitoring the business situation of various trades and industries in Hong Kong, in particular the SMEs therein. Recently, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in collaboration with the banking industry, has introduced further sector-specific support measures to help more SMEs obtain banking facilities and upgrade and restructure their operations. The banking sector has also made a clear commitment to actively implement the various support measures for SMEs introduced earlier under the principle of prudent risk management, and to provide more targeted support to a number of industries. The Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation has also launched three support measures for SMEs, which are expected to benefit about 2,700 policyholders, including about 1,200 "small turnover policyholders".
According to Chan, in addition, Hong Kong will accelerate its efforts to attract capital, talents and enterprises from outside the territory to develop in Hong Kong. At present, the Government is actively attracting quality issuers from all over the world to list in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has already established a regulatory framework to facilitate enterprises already listed overseas to carry out dual listing or secondary listing in Hong Kong. Chan said that in view of the latest global changes, he has instructed the Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) to make preparations so that Hong Kong will be the first choice of listing venue for overseas-listed Chinese stocks if they wish to return to China. HKEX will also step up its efforts in liaison and promotion in ASEAN and the Middle East markets to attract more local quality enterprises to list in Hong Kong, and at the same time attract more international capital to Hong Kong, so as to further enhance Hong Kong's strength and status as an international financial center.
Chan said the extreme tariff measures of the US violated the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and have seriously undermined the confidence of our trading partners and the investment market. Hong Kong enjoys strong support of the Motherland, and under the institutional advantages of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong has become more stable and attractive amidst the current uncertainties in the global market. The HKSAR government will remain highly vigilant and well-prepared for any possible rapid changes in the market in the future, and will strengthen its monitoring, forecasting and contingency planning.
"We believe that as long as we work together, Hong Kong will be able to open up new horizons with more favorable conditions amidst the changes," he said.
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