01
Unexpectedly, Hong Kong completely lost to Singapore!
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, recently released the "World Economic Freedom 2023 Annual Report", and Hong Kong, which has always ranked first, ranked second among 165 economies in the world with a score of 8.55, with a slight gap of 0.01 points, and gave up the top to Singapore.
This is the first time in 53 years that Hong Kong has lost its top spot in the ranking of the world's free economies.
Hong Kong, which has always been proud of its ranking as the No. 1 in Asia, has almost fallen behind Singapore in the past two years, and I have to say that the Hong Kong government is under pressure.
Although the gap with Singapore is small, if Hong Kong's "economic freedom" continues to decline according to this trend, the impact on Hong Kong's international reputation will still be very large.
The Hong Kong government's fight against the rankings is not because it is afraid of losing to Singapore, but because it is precisely losing to Singapore by a small margin, which is just the beginning.
If the controllers of this scoring system were to make "non-existent" judgments on Hong Kong's ratings year after year, Hong Kong's international reputation would be affected.
If Hong Kong's international reputation is affected, Hong Kong's international status will be greatly reduced.
02
What crises has Hong Kong faced in recent years?
Hong Kong was once one of the "Asian Tigers" and one of the largest financial centers in Asia.
With its excellent geographical location, well-established facilities, open market environment, sound legal system and a large number of high-quality talents, Hong Kong has a very important place in the world.
However, in recent years, due to the sluggish economic development and increasing social pressure, Hong Kong's status as a financial center has been shaky compared to before.
The biggest crisis facing Hong Kong may be the shortage and loss of talent.
A professor of sociology in Hong Kong pointed out that Hong Kong's fertility rate has been low for a long time since the 90s of the last century, and this problem is not a short-term phenomenon.
In just three years since 2020, Hong Kong has seen a net outflow of about 300,000 immigrants. Even because of the massive population loss, some industries in Hong Kong have been hit hard.
For example, the education industry. According to statistics, because a large number of immigrants have moved out with their families and families, some primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong have been cut off from students, and many schools are facing closure.
If Hong Kong wants to maintain its position, it is indeed very important to attract a large number of talented people and revitalize the economy and finance.
03
Is Hong Kong still good?
As Hong Kong's development has entered a bottleneck, the surrounding voices have also come and gone.
But as a popular phrase on the Internet sums it up:
"There is no second city in Asia and among the world's 200 countries and thousands of major cities like Hong Kong, which has the greatest freedom and the rule of law at the same time."
Hong Kong is irreplaceable for the world and for China.
If we have to compete with Singapore, Hong Kong will not necessarily lose in all aspects.
Here are two very visual examples.
1) Hong Kong's salary is out of Singapore.
According to data from the Singapore Bureau of Statistics, the average salary in Hong Kong in 2022 is 43 yuan/hour higher than that in Singapore, and according to 8 hours a day, then working in Hong Kong can earn 344 yuan more per day than in Singapore, and 8,944 yuan higher according to 26 working days a month.
The performance is even more pronounced in the financial sector, where Bloomberg Industry Research found that financiers in Hong Kong make far more money than in Singapore.
For example, the revenue of Analyst in Hong Kong is almost double that of Singapore!
In addition, Hong Kong also has a "killer feature": low tax rate!
2) Hong Kong's tax revenue is more advantageous than Singapore's.
There is no doubt that Hong Kong and Singapore are two of Asia's two largest "tax havens".
However, the comparison shows that Hong Kong is still slightly better in terms of tax collection.
- Singapore: Personal income tax rates range from 0-22%, with different tax rates applicable to resident and non-resident taxpayers;
- Hong Kong: The standard tax rate for individuals and the profits tax rate for unincorporated entities are both 15%.
As far as financial talents are concerned, it can be seen that going to Hong Kong will have a much greater development advantage than going to Singapore.
04
Hong Kong's advantages go far beyond that
As we all know, Singapore has a very high threshold for immigration.
Investment immigrants need to invest at least more than 8 million yuan, family office immigrants also need at least 14 million yuan, and skilled immigrants need to be hired by local companies and obtain an employment pass (EP).
This requires a very high level of financial, ability and cognition of immigration applicants.
However, in the past two years, Hong Kong has obviously crushed Singapore in attracting talents.
In order to alleviate the dilemma of serious brain drain, the Hong Kong government has not only launched the High Talent Pass, but also relaxed the quota limit for talented talents. Even further studies have been relaxed, and the IANG visa has been relaxed to a two-year period.
In other words, Hong Kong will be much easier than Singapore if top talent wants to immigrate to the top cities in Asia.
That is to say, in terms of talent competitiveness, Hong Kong is visibly awakening and recruiting talents, which will also provide strong conditions and support for Hong Kong's reconstruction and glory.