Hong Kong should make good use of the opportunity arising from the internationalisation of the renminbi, which will contribute to China's well-being.
Financial Secretary John Tsang made the statement at a media session in New York yesterday, saying Hong Kong has the biggest liquidity pool in the world of about 750 billion yuan and is doing about three quarters of the world's business in terms of trade settlement using renminbi.
As the currency is now included in the basket of Special Drawing Rights, the demand for renminbi transactions will increase.
"We want to make good use of this opportunity for Hong Kong so that we can do even more in this process, contributing to the well-being of our nation."
He said Hong Kong is a free economy with an attractive environment, including low tariffs and tax rates, no inheritance tax, no capital gains tax, no GST or VAT, and is an attractive place for American businesses.
"I hope there will be more American companies coming to Hong Kong. In fact there are quite a lot, we have probably the largest American Chamber of Commerce outside of the US and about 90,000 people of American nationality live in Hong Kong."
The HK-US dollar peg has worked well and there is no intention to de-peg, he added.
