Hong Kong's sound economic fundamentals, robust financial regulatory regime, resilient banking sector and strong fiscal position will continue to enable the economy to embrace the challenges ahead, Financial Secretary John Tsang said today.
Mr Tsang was responding to Moody’s changing Hong Kong's outlook to negative from stable.
"As the International Monetary Fund Staff Report released in January concluded, those strengths, together with the Linked Exchange Rate system, will provide Hong Kong with strong buffers to deal with near-term challenges, while laying the foundation for steady growth and healthy job creation in the medium term,” he said.
Mr Tsang added that while Moody's has changed the rating outlook it continues to recognise Hong Kong's credit strengths and strong economic fundamentals, and maintains unchanged Hong Kong's credit rating at Aa1.
He noted that the Mainland will continue to be a key source of growth and stability for the global economy and that Hong Kong is in a good position to benefit from the structural rebalancing in the Mainland's economy from investment to consumption, as the increase in demand in services will create new business opportunities for a service-oriented economy like Hong Kong.
Mr Tsang pointed out that banks in Hong Kong have a strong capital base, and have prudently managed their property-related exposures, while the risk associated with Mainland-related lending is manageable.
He also reiterated that the '"one country, two systems" principle has worked well and both the Central People's Government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government remain firmly committed to upholding this principle.
Meanwhile, the SAR Government added that Moody's comments about Mainland interference in Hong Kong's policy formulation and implementation, as well as the political risk arising from political links with the Mainland, are all purely speculative and subjective statements.
Hong Kong has been exercising a high degree of autonomy and enjoying executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication in accordance with the Basic Law. There has been no evidence of Mainland interference in Hong Kong affairs or Hong Kong institutions losing independence over time. In fact, the successful implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle is widely recognised by the international community.
