A government survey on business expectations for the first quarter of 2007 showed that more people expect business to improve rather than decline in first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2006.

Business expectations in construction, communications, real estate, business services, banks, financing and insurance improved over last year.

Another study from the government think-tank found that the number of low-income households more than doubled from 85,300 in the third quarter of 1996 to 187,100 in the same period last year.

The Bauhinia Foundation studied the city's wealth gap and reported that ordinary households have failed to benefit from robust economic growth, and the number of households earning less than HK$4,000 a month has increased.

But government economist Kwok Kwok-chuen explained it that the majority of low-income households have one or two elderly members who are retired, earning much less than before.

(China Daily 02/01/2007 page15)

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