The Hong Kong Monetary Authority warned of diminished attractiveness for the city as a financial hub if higher vaccination rates were not achieved, in a relatively rare showing of doubt.
According to Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Eddie Yue, exclusion from travel bubbles could hit the city’s hub status and that key to inclusion would be higher vaccination rates. – a point he also underlined as a consensus prerequisite for full economic recovery amongst central bankers.
«If you were a regional executive sitting in Hong Kong running the regional business in Hong Kong, without being able to fly around in Asia or fly back to your headquarters for reporting, will you think I should remain in Hong Kong, or should I move to another center?» he said.
«And that will affect the competitiveness of us being a regional or international financial center.»
Vaccination Rates
According to global data compiled by Oxford University, Hong Kong ranks 52nd out of 218 locations by the percentage of its population vaccinated at 12.7 percent.
Singapore ranked 28th at 23.9 percent.
«I am concerned […] we are lagging behind in a sense,» Yue said.
Lower Confidence
The comments were a rare example of doubt from the HKMA which had in recent years continued to express confidence in the hub’s outlook through unprecedented civil unrest and implementation of Beijing’s national security law.
In late 2019, former chief Norman Chan rebutted potential attacks against the Hong Kong dollar peg with the U.S. dollar, even warning short sellers that «much more bullets» would be needed to launch an effective attack.
