HKMA chief looks to Greater Bay Area, connect schemes in second 5-year term
The de facto central bank will work with mainland authorities to develop the Greater Bay Area and expand cross-border trading, CEO Eddie Yue says
Eddie Yue Wai-man, who will start his second five-year term as the city’s de facto central banker on Tuesday, said development of the Greater Bay Area has been slower than expected. Beijing rolled out its blueprint for the Greater Bay Area project, which seeks to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an economic powerhouse by 2035, in February 2019.
“The three-year Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the development of the Greater Bay Area”, Yue said in an interview last week.
“Over the next five years, I will like to do more to promote cross-border trading and fund flow in the development area.”
Asked about his wish list, Yue said he would like to make it easier for Hong Kong companies to transfer money to pay salaries and other expenses at their Greater Bay Area operations.
He would also like it to be simpler for Hong Kong residents to transfer money to the mainland so they can pay for their medical costs and other daily expenses if they choose to live or retire in the bay area. According to the Hong Kong government, around 88,000 of the city’s residents were living in Guangdong province for most of their time at the end of 2022, an increase of about 11 per cent from five years earlier.
