Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the city's budget deficit this financial year may exceed the previous estimation of HK$280 billion as government revenue will drop.
"The total package of these relief measures costs more than HK$130 billion. When I delivered the Budget at the end of February, I forecasted a budget deficit of close to HK$140 billion. This together with the recently announced measures would bring our total deficit to close to HK$280 billion," Chan said in a press briefing after attending a radio program.
"Considering that during economic recession, tax collections and revenue from land sale would inevitably come down, we are of the view that it would be quite possible for the deficit for this year to exceed HK$280 billion."
