Where shall we go and spend the money?
Although everyone in Hong Kong is covered in a mask, it is easy to tell they are not smiling.
Why? People at the International Finance Centre in Central could tell that no one is making money in almost any asset class – stocks, bonds, real estate, gold and even cryptos – in the strong US dollar era.
And this week’s spotlight victim was British pound. Those with pound exposure -HSBC, CK Hutchison and the over 100,000 Hong Kong emigrants - would see the US dollar value of their assets go down by 20 per cent year-to-date as sterling fell to a historic low against the US dollar since 1971. One can also argue that some of them were able to sell their Hong Kong assets earlier at higher prices.
But for those who plan to leave Hong Kong would suddenly find themselves 20 per cent richer than they were had they decided to leave the city earlier.
Of course, not everyone is crying. The Hong Kong dollar peg can at least cheer the local outbound travellers. The new “0+3” arrangement without mandatory hotel quarantine spurs many of Hong Kong people who fancy outbound travel after a two-and-a-half year wait.
Who has not searched for international flights and started booking holidays over the weekend? Rightly so, the air-ticket price is not cheap but think of the favourable currency exchange advantage after a 25 per cent drop in yen year-to-date, followed by a 20 per cent drop in pounds, a 16 per cent drop in euros, a 15 per cent drop in Taiwan dollars and a similar level of decline in other South East Asian regional currencies.
Among the destinations, Singapore was probably the least favourable because Singapore dollar is the most defensive one with a mere six per cent drop this year.
The dollar peg, along with the 0+3 medical surveillance in travel restrictions, may keep foreign tourists from visiting Hong Kong.
Still, overseas Hong Kong people may start booking tickets to return for holidays in the perfect season for autumn hiking and Christmas shopping, if they do not mind the extra spending.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
-
HK migrants alarmed by new British policy Mark O'Neill
Hong Kong people who emigrated to Britain with a BNO passport are alarmed by the new immigration policy outlined on Monday by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Most alarming is a new requirement that
-
HK says Goodbye to Pioneer of English Education Mark O'Neill
On May 7, 150 people crowded into St John’s Cathedral in Garden Road to say goodbye to a polymath and pioneer of English-language education who lived in the city for 42 years. Dr Verner Bickley
-
French Sisters in HK saved 34000 abandoned children Mark O'Neill
In 19th century Hong Kong, families abandoned thousands of girls whom they could not or would not bring up. They faced death, disease, a life of domestic service or prostitution. But the Sisters of
-
Czech National Ballet in Hong Kong Arts Festival Kevin Ng
Nowadays Hong Kong seldom plays host to overseas ballet companies, except during the annual Hong Kong Arts Festival. Czech National Ballet is the only ballet company touring this year’s Festival. Its
-
Are Hong Kong migrants to UK returning home? Mark O'Neill
“She was a schoolteacher in Hong Kong and now works as a cashier in a supermarket in Britain. I think she and her husband would like to come back but it is a question of face. How would she explain
