HONG KONG, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- "Hong Kong dollar selling" amid U.S. interest rate hikes does not mean capital outflow, and will not affect the financial and monetary stability of Hong Kong, said Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

In the first half of 2022, the total deposits of authorized institutions in Hong Kong still rose slightly by 0.4 percent, reflecting that "the selling of the Hong Kong dollar" is not equivalent to "an outflow of capital," and will not affect the financial and monetary stability of Hong Kong, Chan said in a blog post on Sunday.

He said that in the face of the changing international political situation, efforts are needed to be made to further strengthen economic and trade cooperation with emerging economies and more actively attract talents and enterprises from different regions to Hong Kong.

People walk on a street in south China's Hong Kong, March 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Lo Ping Fai)

As an international fund-raising center, Hong Kong should strive to attract more enterprises from different places and with diverse backgrounds to list in Hong Kong and expand their businesses here, the finance chief said.

Noting that the Health Bureau of the HKSAR government had recently announced four new epidemic prevention measures, he also urged the unvaccinated residents in Hong Kong to receive vaccine doses as soon as possible, contributing to keeping normal social and economic activities to the greatest extent while effectively preventing and controlling COVID-19.■