Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Winners 2020 | Page 33
Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020
support Macau as a training base for talented entrepreneurs who are fluent in both Chinese and
Portuguese, hence turning the area into an education and training base.
The initiative is an economic enticement for Hong Kong and Macau to start building
stronger ties with the mainland. It will also greatly benefit Hong Kong’s economy as the
plan brings about the movement of capital and goods. With this, local companies may attract
more investment, attain a better yield in the stock market, as well as providing Hong Kong
businesses with a more substantial stake market in the mainland. Developing the GBA into
an international financial hub would make it an important component of the One Belt, One
Road initiative, thus it would encourage the development of Macau into a Sino-Portuguese
stage for financial services. This would support the development of specialised financial
products in the city as the overseas experience of Hong Kong businesses would help GBA
companies in their efforts to “go global”, which would be an important factor in the city’s
future success. On one hand, Hong Kong’s status as an international connector should
naturally enable the city to promote the GBA initiative overseas and attract more capital and
talents therein for further development.
Hong Kong could benefit from integration with Guangdong by gaining greater access to
the Chinese market in the financial and professional services sector. Hong Kong only exports
7.5% of all its financial services to China - about a third of what it exports to the United
Kingdom. This exportation of financial expertise is significantly lower than it perhaps should
be considering Hong Kong’s close relationship and geographical location in relation to the
mainland. By transferring financial expertise from city to city within the GBA, each city or
major city of the area would enjoy benefits in the finance industry by directly increasing GDP
growth through promoting domestic investment and growth through capital imports and
reducing consumption volatility. Transferring financial expertise leads to healthy competition
among the GBA cities as well as internationally, thus making a more effective financial
system. Also, it provides information on the vital areas of investment, like property in Hong
Kong, and can hence lead to effective capital allocation, subsequently increasing GDP growth.
More importantly, it promotes the integration of the economy and facilitates the easy flow
of capital. The free transfer of funds and expertise would eventually result in more equality
among the cities that are a part of that same financial system.
Originally a sparsely populated collection of coastal islands, Macau has become the
top destination for gambling tourism and a major resort city in Asia. The territory is the
ninth-highest recipient of tourism revenue and its gambling industry is seven times larger
than that of Las Vegas, earning its nickname the “Las Vegas of Asia”. The city has a severe
income inequality despite having one of the highest per capita incomes in the world at 96,570
Macanese paceta dollars in 2016 (according to the World Bank). In addition, Macau’s GDP
per capita by purchasing power parity (PPP) is one of the highest in the world and higher
than any other country in 2017 (World Bank), thus showing the need for the other cities’
financial expertise to promote the capital growth of Macau itself. Over the years, Macau has
prioritised gambling, tourism, and resort development which has created a narrow economic
base. The GBA however, could diversify its economy away from its reliance on gambling to
focus on tourism, financial services, entertainment, cultural events, as well as boost its role
as a ‘knowledge centre’. For instance, Macau may focus more on its openness abroad, namely
by becoming a reference point in China for cultural and academic relations not only with
Portuguese-speaking countries but also with Spanish-speaking countries - especially given
the ease of connecting Portugal and Brazil with the Iberian world, thus boosting its role as a
‘knowledge centre’
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