subsidies and dumping, and also counter - measures, and there are mechanisms for dispute settlement and arbitration. in contrast, the statistical framework for capital flows is, relatively speaking, very modest. and we do not have any framework to deal with disruption caused by volatile capital flows comparable to the world trade organisation ’ s mechanisms for handling disruption from trade in goods and services. the volume of global merchandise trade, valued at us $ 5. 4 trillion in the year of 1998, in fact pales beside the scale of global international finance. the average daily turnover in the world ’ s foreign exchange market stood at us $ 1. 5 trillion in 1998, or roughly 70 times that of merchandise trade. on top of that, the otc derivative contracts had a daily turnover of us $ 1. 3 trillion in 1998, and the notional amounts outstanding at end - june 1998 came to us $ 72 trillion. there is no doubt that the growth of foreign exchange and otc markets, together with advances in information technology, has contributed to cross - border capital flows and enhanced risk management standards. it is, however, legitimate to ask what lies behind these vast numbers. what does it mean for the underlying markets if the financial derivatives trading continues to multiply? do we understand exactly what these us $ 72 trillion worth of derivative positions represent? do we really understand the nature of the fund flows generated from the financial derivative trading in the otc markets? the problem is that we do not have the answers to most of these questions. to start with, there is not even an adequate statistical framework to capture capital flow data. the current data on balance of payments, international investment position, or flow of funds accounts have two major short - comings : ( a ) low frequency of quarterly data ; and ( b ) limited breakdown of data by currency, sector, instrument, etc. the bis, imf and oecd are examples of institutions which have made some attempts to collate relevant statistics but they are far from complete or timely. this is not just a statistical issue for the data compilers but a major policy issue for the authorities and other users. the compilation of high - frequency and detailed data is going to be resource - intensive and there is keen competition for statistical resources. it seems to me high time to take a fresh look at the adequacy of data on capital flows and if necessary review the priorities currently assigned to collection of real sector or other statistical data. challenges of coping with the destabilis

45 daily newspapers printed in hong kong and no fewer than 661 registered periodicals. now, of course, some of these publications are what are known as ma ging ( 馬 [UNK] ) or racing papers, and not all of them have their dedicated financial pages. even so, hong kong is remarkably well served by the financial media, and one thing that has never ceased to impress me during my sixteen years as monetary authority has been the quality and dedication of the many people in hong kong who make up the financial media. the many colleagues in the media play an extremely important part in the development of financial markets, and i should like to pay tribute to their professionalism. i feel entitled to use the word " colleagues ", not just because i have enjoyed a very close and productive relationship with the financial media, but also because i too, albeit uninvited and unpaid, have for the past 11 years served as a columnist in several newspapers through my weekly " viewpoint " articles. i should like to thank those newspapers who have faithfully reproduced these articles, week after week, even when the content may not always have been as newsworthy as they may have hoped. ladies and gentlemen, this evening's gala dinner, in recognising excellence in financial services will provide encouragement for the future development of financial markets in the region. it is also an opportunity to celebrate euromoney's 40th anniversary and its long association with hong kong and this region. i should like to offer euromoney heartiest congratulations on its birthday and the very best of wishes for a flourishing future.