Asia's services sector estimated to double by 2010
Asia's services sector estimated to double by 2010
SINGAPORE (Reuter): Asia's exports of commercial services, now running at about U.S$200 billion, are estimated to double by 2010 due to technological advances and freer trade, a top Hong Kong banker said over the weekend.
"In the coming years, Asia will be responsible for more than half the world's growth in tourism, aviation, telecommunications, and consumer markets," said Vincent Cheng, executive director of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp HSBC).
Cheng said the lowering of international trade barriers in the service sector will mean access to billions of dollars international financial business for banks, stock brokerages and insurance companies worldwide.
He was speaking at a one-day seminar which was part of a roadshow by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) to promote the colony as a center for business support services.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Donald Tsang, who gave the keynote luncheon address at the seminar, said the services sector in the East Asia region is projected to rise to 58 percent of the region's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2000, corresponding to a value-added contribution of over US$5 trillion.
HSBC's Cheng said Hong Kong's position as a regional services hub is likely to grow more vital in the years to come, as it mediates between the increasingly integrated economies of Taiwan, China, the "services-rich Asia" and the colony itself.
He said the services sector represents more than 80 percent of the colony's GDP and also claims a major share of the value-added of cross-border manufacturing and invisible offshore trade.
"'Managed By Hong Kong' is now as important as 'Made In Hong Kong', particularly for the China market," he said.
The Hong Kong TDC's roadshow comes after a recent announcement by the trade body of a HK$40 million plan to promote Hong Kong's expertise in providing specialized business, trade and financial support services.
The territory is the 10th largest exporter of services in the world.