What should a government do for a city’s economy, I would say, it depends. A government should focus on the city’s real situation to come up with some ideas in order to boost up the economy. However, not all measures are applicable to all cities. Since I am familiar with the current situation in Hong Kong and I would like to further discuss what SAR government should do for Hong Kong economy in two ways- internal and external. Internally, Hong Kong has two major problems which are more focus on financial and real estate, and inadequate supply of land. First, developing ‘industrial diversification’ is necessary. These days, it seems to be more focus on financial sectors and real estate. In fact, Hong Kong has four economic pillars: financial sectors, trade and logistics, tourism and producer and professional services. Yet, government has put a lot of resources on developing financial and real estate. Consequently, this leads to single development and real estate hegemony. Nevertheless, boosting economy should not only look at two sectors. ‘Sustainability’ is the key to sustain and stable economic growth in the long term, in other words, ‘industrial diversification’ is important. The government should encourage the development in innovation and technology, creativity, environmental protection and other industries of the new economy. For instance, she could take the lead, such as investing in the new enterprise to further develop or train related professionals and then to further cooperation with new industries. This action could probably give confidence to other investors to invest in new industries as well. Additionally, boosting tourism can also improve the economy. Hong Kong should create tourist areas outside the urban areas where is inadequate supply of land. If the allocation of resources can be more decentralized, it is easier to solve the urban crowded and attract more tourists. The attractions need not necessarily be natural like Wetland Park and can be created artificially, such as the famous night markets in Taiwan. Some featured or symbolic attractions which can represent Hong Kong should be created. Moreover, the transportation should be convenient. On the one hand, tourists are easy to go and avoid over-crowded in urban areas. On the other hand, people who work there can save time and bear the cost of transportation, especially the one who lives in rural areas can be beneficial, in other words increase employment and the overall economic development. Externally, Hong Kong should optimize the ‘Talents Scheme’ which can attract a large number of outstanding talents to Hong Kong. Under the global economy, competition for talents is vigorous. Some developing countries, such as Shanghai and Beijing have been catching up Hong Kong. They broke down barriers to attract the best foreign talents. Therefore, Hong Kong should import more talents from all around the world to avoid lagging behind. This way, the talents can promote the development of economy and optimize the quality of population. Furthermore, they can strengthen the recruitment of creative industries, innovation and technology, environmental protection and other aspects of industry professionals to enhance the competitiveness. Then, the job opportunities from different aspects would also be increased and people can develop their strengths in the long run. After that, the overall economy would be stimulated due to the diversified development. Moreover, strengthening foreign trade is also vital. Hong Kong adopted a ‘laissez-faire’ policy which means government would not get intervention. Geographically, Hong Kong is near to the mainland China. This means there will be a lot of business deals with China business. Nevertheless, Hong Kong should expand the overseas market, not just put the efforts into China market since foreign exchange could increase the revenue of government. One of the ways to earn foreign exchange is to export local goods or services. This means government should supervise the quality of goods and services in order to rest assured the foreign investors and business partners. To conclude, the SAR government should work more on the current economic growth internally and externally. Simply to say, government has to develop industrial diversification, boost tourism, optimize the ‘Talents Scheme’ and strengthen foreign trade so as to boost up the overall economy of Hong Kong. (6970)
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:37:55 +0000
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