economy recovers, the fiscal position should quickly move back into overall balance. an 18 - month period of sharp recession and painful adjustments is, of course, very tough for everyone. but this does not seem to be an excessively long period, given that we were affected by the worst financial turmoil in the recent history of the region. i am aware, however, that there has been some controversy over the performance of the hong kong economy, compared with that of other asian economies, in coping with the asian financial crisis. there seems to be the impression that hong kong has been the slowest to recover. this may be true according to one measure or another, and we should obviously look critically into the reasons, if indeed there are structural defects that may have inhibited our recovery. economic cycles come and go, and there is no way that hong kong, as an open and externally oriented economy, can be immunised from external shocks of the dimension that we have seen. but we need to make sure that we come out of the crisis stronger rather than weaker. structural defects, if any, need to be corrected decisively, to the extent that this is within the powers of government to do so. but we also need to keep our heads cool and be objective in this self - assessment. the loud and heartfelt complaints of a community in pain, legitimate though they may be, can sometimes drown out the arguments in support of policies that are in the long - term interests of hong kong. it may therefore be worth making a few observations on how the policies we pursue have helped hong kong through the crises that have hit this region over the past couple of years. first, while hong kong may be one of the last economies in the region to move back into positive economic growth, it was in fact also one of the last economies to go into recession as a result of the financial crisis. second, currency stability has protected our real incomes. indeed, we emerged from the recession with one of the smallest falls in average incomes for our community, measured in us dollar terms. third, hong kong ’ s monetary and financial systems also experienced the least structural damage. and, at the height of the crisis, we were also able to introduce various effective measures to strengthen them. fourth, our currency has remained the most stable in the region. operating under robust currency board arrangements, our exchange rate link to the us dollar has remained intact, and its credibility has increased. fifth, the necessary structural adjustments in the economy

, most job growth in the united states has occurred in urban areas. 7 given these differing circumstances, it is not surprising that community banks operating in rural and urban areas tend to face different challenges. for example, the number of competitors faced by a banking organization tends to be larger in urban banking markets than in rural markets, while hiring and retaining high - quality employees can be more difficult in rural areas. and some observers have expressed concern about the implications of bank consolidation over the past two or three decades for access to banking services in rural areas while also wondering about the future viability of rural community banks. see u. s. census bureau ( 2016 ), “ new census data show differences between urban and rural populations, ” press release, december 8, https : / / www. census. gov / newsroom / press - releases / 2016 / cb16210. html. see kim parker, juliana menasce horowitz, anna brown, richard fry, d ’ vera cohn, and ruth igielnik ( 2018 ), “ demographic and economic trends in urban, suburban and rural communities, ” in what unites and divides urban, suburban and rural communities ( washington : pew research center, may ), http : / / www. pewsocialtrends. org / 2018 / 05 / 22 / demographic - and - economic - trends - in - urban - suburban - andrural - communities ; or john m. anderlik and richard d. cofer, jr. ( 2014 ), “ long - term trends in rural depopulation and their implications for community banks, ” fdic quarterly, vol. 8 ( 2 ), pp. 44 - 59, https : / / www. fdic. gov / bank / analytical / quarterly / 2014 - vol8 - 2 / article2. pdf. see mark muro and jacob whiton ( 2018 ), “ geographic gaps are widening while u. s. economic growth increases, ” brookings institution, the avenue ( blog ), january 23, https : / / www. brookings. edu / blog / the - avenue / 2018 / 01 / 22 / uneven - growth ; and brian thiede, lillie greiman, stephan weiler, steven c. beda, and tessa conroy ( 2017 ), “ the divide between rural and urban america, in 6 charts, ” u. s. news & world report, march 20, https : / / www