[HONG KONG] Hong Kong will have 63 per cent more millionaires by 2011, with their wealth growing faster than peers in Singapore, says London-based business information provider Datamonitor.
The number of Hong Kong residents with more than US$1 million of liquid assets in the city will increase to 83,000 from 51,000 last year, Datamonitor forecasts in a statement. That represents an annual growth rate of 10 per cent, according to Bloomberg calculation.
The assets they hold in Hong Kong will expand 11 per cent a year to almost US$250 billion by 2011, from last year's US$150 billion, Datamonitor projects.
The number of millionaires in Singapore is forecast to grow 7.3 per cent a year over the same period with the liquid assets they hold in the country projected to rise 7.5 per cent annually, Datamonitor says.
Hong Kong is benefiting from low taxes, simple regulations and flexible labour market rules that have attracted global financial institutions to set up shop, boosting the city's financial industry, which accounts for almost 90 per cent of its economy, Datamonitor says.
"It is Hong Kong's open economy that has seen its financial services industry thrive," David Lalich, author of the report, said in the statement.
Hong Kong residents have also gained from the city's rising stock market since 2002, when there were about 31,000 millionaires, Datamonitor says. The Hang Seng Index has tripled since the end of 2002. - Bloomberg.
