Joseph Yam's New Year Wishes

It is traditional at Lunar New Year to send good wishes for the coming year to relatives and friends. Regular readers will know that I have developed the habit of sending my good wishes to them through this column. Here is the English translation of the original eight couplets in Chinese that make up my good wishes for the year. Each couplet has eight Chinese characters.

1. May the economy recover and all trades prosper.
2. May the deficit diminish and the budget move towards balance.
3. May the unemployment rate fall and bankruptcies come to an end.
4. May deflation disappear and wages start to rise again.
5. May property prices recover and negative equity become positive.
6. May the exchange rate remain stable and speculators stay away.
7. May the banking system continue to be strong and loans and deposits rise.
8. May the stock market be busy and the Hang Seng Index continue to climb.

    

Kung Hey Fat Choi.

Joseph Yam

22 January 2004

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