Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, transport equipment, raw materials, semimanufactures, petroleum; a large share is reexported

Imports - partners: China 44%, Japan 12%, US 7%, Taiwan 7%, South
Korea, Singapore (1999)

Debt - external: $48.1 billion (1999)

Currency: Hong Kong dollar (HKD)

Currency code: HKD

Exchange rates: Hong Kong dollars per US dollar - 7.7990 (January 2001), 7.7912 (2000), 7.7575 (1999), 7.7453 (1998), 7.7421 (1997), 7.7343 (1996); note - Hong Kong became a special administrative region of China on 1 July 1997; before then, the Hong Kong dollar was linked to the US dollar at the rate of about 7.8 Hong Kong dollars per US dollar

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Hong Kong Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 3.839 million (1999)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 3.7 million (December 1999)