Joseph Yam, who ran the financial regulator and central bank for 16 years until 2009 and was partly responsible for introducing the dollar peg, said the territory should think about adopting a flexible exchange rate system.
Yam has released a report, called The Future of the Monetary System of Hong Kong, which argues the case for moving away from a US dollar peg, which critics argue means Hong Kong imports much of the United States’ inflation – a factor which has helped push property prices up to staggering levels in recent years.
In his report, Yam admits that the current system has served Hong Kong well for “nearly thirty years”, but says there needs to be a “continuous and vigorous intellectual exercise to consider whether the monetary system is serving the public interest in the best manner possible”.
To read the report, click here.
