Mr. Yam focuses on how Hong Kong is coping with financial turmoil Text of the “Inside Asia Lecture 1998” by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr. Joseph Yam, JP, organised by The Australian, Sydney on 23/11/98. Introduction  It is a great pleasure to be in your beautiful city once again, and an honour to have the opportunity to speak to such a distinguished audience. Sydney and Hong Kong - both vibrant international cities with spectacular ports - have much in common. We enjoy growing cultural and economic links and, although some 4,500 miles distant, we are both part of the same region. Less happily, our economies have both taken a hammering from the financial crisis that has recently rocked the region. My focus in this talk will be on how the regional crisis has affected Hong Kong, and, equally important, on the ways in which it has not affected Hong Kong. The Asian Financial Crisis  The complex causes that so suddenly turned the Asian miracle into an Asian mess will no doubt be debated for many years to come. The devastating effects of the massive exodus of capital from the region have been clear enough. In the worst hit economies currencies have devalued by as much as 70%. Stock markets have declined to the levels of ten years ago. Asset prices have sharply deflated, economies have contracted, and unemployment has risen. The region is going through its worst financial crisis since the Second World War.
And the larger aim of this co-operation should be not just to draw up defensive measures, but to create positive opportunities for building a new global financial order appropriate to the needs of the twenty-first century. BIS Review 98/1998