Hong Kong
People in Hong Kong are the most optimistic in the world about the
prospects for 2008 while those in Taiwan are the region's gloomiest,
according to a survey Tuesday.
Seventy-one percent of people in Hong Kong believe 2008 will be
better than 2007, the highest percentage among 54 countries and
regions surveyed worldwide by market research groups TNS and Gallup.
Fifty-eight percent of Hong Kong people interviewed said they
expected improved economic prosperity in 2008, the highest
percentage regionally followed by 45 percent of respondents in India
and 32 percent of respondents in Malaysia.
The second most optimistic place globally was Kosovo where 68
percent expect a brighter year ahead followed by Colombia (66
percent), New Zealand (57 percent) and Venezuela (53 percent).
The remainder of the worldwide top 10 was made up by Australia (53
percent), Sweden (51 percent), India (51 percent), Canada (50
percent) and Argentina (49 percent).
Regionally, 47 percent of Thais said they expected 2008 to be better
than 2007, compared to 37 percent of Malaysians, 31 percent of
people in the Philippines and 29 percent of Pakistanis.
Only 21 percent of Indonesians and Japanese said they expected a
brighter new year but the most pessimistic territory in the region
was Taiwan where only 19 percent said things would be better in
2008.
Hong Kong's sunny outlook on the New Year appears to be based on its
booming economy that has seen the Hang Seng Index shoot up by 40
percent in the past year.
The city of 6.9 million will host the equestrian events of the
Beijing Olympics in August 2008 and is also expected to continue to
benefit from the continuing economic expansion in China, which was
not included in the poll.
Thomas Isaac, director of research at TNS, said Hong Kong people
felt prosperous and secure in their jobs, helping them to top the
annual global optimism poll for the first time since 2003.
Explaining the former British colony's high score, he said: "Real
GDP increased by an annualised rate of 6.1 percent in the nine
months up to September. Total exports grew by a strong 9.6 percent
on a yearly basis in the 10 months up to October.
"Unemployment fell to 3.9 percent between August and October and the
Hong Kong stock market also performed exceptionally throughout most
of the year."
More than 50,000 people globally and 10,000 people regionally were
interviewed for the annual survey that was conducted between October
and December 2007.
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