Record-breaking year for InvestHK

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced that it achieved a record-breaking year for foreign direct investment in 2024 by assisting 539 overseas and Mainland companies to set up or expand operations in Hong Kong, an increase of 41% year-on-year.

The total investment brought to Hong Kong’s economy from such activities reached $67.7 billion, which also represents a record high and a nearly 10% increase compared to 2023.

These companies expected to create 6,864 job opportunities.

Director-General of Investment Promotion Alpha Lau said the results in 2024 indicate that overseas and Mainland enterprises have full confidence in Hong Kong.

Regarding the 539 companies, 273 came from the Mainland, followed by the US, France, the UK and Singapore.

Among the companies that InvestHK assisted, the top few sectors include innovation and technology, financial services and fintech, and family offices.

Director-General of Investment Promotion Alpha Lau.

Ms Lau said that in 2025, InvestHK will be committed to enhancing quality and creating new opportunities via prioritising attracting businesses that can generate substantial economic benefits and quality investments for Hong Kong.

“We are hoping that in our more traditional markets, such as the US, Europe, or Northern Asia, we will go deeper to let more industries, new industries such as technology or creative industries, further enrich Hong Kong’s environment.”

Apart from pointing out that InvestHK plans to adopt a breadth and depth strategy, Ms Lau explained that it also intends to explore emerging markets and strengthen its promotional efforts in places along the Belt & Road to assist local companies to expand their regional operations via Hong Kong.

Hong Kong.

“For newer markets, we are hoping to go wide, more breadth. So it is a breadth and depth strategy, so that more markets which previously did not know about Hong Kong, or not enough about Hong Kong as a stepping stone or jumping board into Asia (markets) - such as Eastern Europe, or ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) - we will be doing a wider scope of works and work closely through our investment promotion units of dedicated teams in those locations as well as our partners, such as chambers in those locations, to let them know more about Hong Kong.”

In addition, the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, of which InvestHK is responsible for its financial requirements assessment, received more than 800 applications by the end of 2024 since its launch last March which will bring in around $24 billion in investments to the city.

With enhancements to the scheme to be effective in March this year, this number is expected to further increase.

HKSAR Government responds to World Bank Group Business Ready 2025 Report

The World Bank Group published the second pilot Business Ready 2025 Report (Report) on December 29. The Report analyses the overall performance of economies under three pillars (Note 1) involving ten topics (Note 2) and assesses their business environment accordingly. The number of economies assessed is expanded from 50 economies last year to over 100 this year. According to the Report, among the three pillars, Hong Kong remains in the top 20 in "Operational Efficiency" and in the second quintile in "Regulatory Framework" and "Public Services".

"Some assessment results of the Report, such as those relating to 'International Trade', 'Financial Services', 'Dispute Resolution' etc., differ from the rankings and highly positive evaluations bestowed upon Hong Kong by many other international organisations. We note that the assessment methodology of the Report may result in an outdated and unfair comparison. Taking the pillar of 'Operational Efficiency' as an example, some of the data used to assess Hong Kong were collected shortly after the pandemic in 2023, while some of the data used for other economies' assessment were collected in 2024," a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government spokesman said.

"This year's report is still under the pilot phase and may have room for improvement on the assessment methodology and data comparability. The HKSAR Government will maintain communication with the World Bank Group to fully explain Hong Kong's business environment and relevant policy measures. The HKSAR Government will also raise constructive feedback, striving to optimise the compilation of the Report," the spokesman said.

Note 1: The three pillars include "Regulatory Framework", "Public Services" and "Operational Efficiency"

Note 2: The ten topics are "Business Entry", "Business Location", "Utility Services", "Labor", "Financial Services", "International Trade", "Taxation", "Dispute Resolution", "Market Competition" and "Business Insolvency".

Source: AI-found images