Summing up, although I described our market infrastructure in Hong Kong as relatively mature, you will have realised - if you were ever in any doubt - that there is no shortage of change and of potential new opportunities, although possibly not so many as in one or two of the other economies, which I reviewed earlier. I hope that all of you will participate in the continuing evolution of Hong Kong’s capital markets, and use Hong Kong as your base for incursions into other territories where similar or greater opportunities exist. Our aim in Hong Kong is to provide an open and welcoming environment for business, and to be judged on our merits as a truly international centre which possesses that all important critical mass across the full range of financial, professional and commercial services and is ideally located as a hub for the region’s future development. Note: FDI=inward foreign direct investment; for India the first three columns are 198896, and the fourth 1991-96. BIS Review 52/1999  4  5  BIS Review 52/1999
Importing the stability-oriented policy that had long been conducted in the EMU's core countries helped to create better conditions for future growth. The policy model we now follow comes originally from Germany. During the entire post-war period they have endeavoured, to a great extent successfully, to maintain price stability. The task of achieving this has fallen to the German central bank - the Bundesbank - which has operated independently, at arm's length from party politics. The Bundesbank model is now copied by a number of industrial nations, which have given their central banks a large degree of independence and the task of aiming for price stability. This policy is also reflected in the Maastricht Treaty and in the Riksbank legislation. My colleagues in the major industrial nations also try - as long as they are sure that inflation is not about to deviate from the desired level to take account of economic activity and unemployment. There are thus considerable similarities and this applies not only in Europe, but also in a comparison with, for instance, the US, although the stipulated targets vary, sometimes for historical reasons. In this sense we are all the children of the Bundesbank! Within the central bank world the methods of working have also become more similar in recent years. Although not all industrial nations with a floating exchange rate say that they use inflation targeting, they actually do so in some form.