Chan vows careful balance for budget

Staff reporter

Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the 2022-2023 budget will focus on supporting the economy and people's livelihoods under the pandemic while taking into account the medium and long-term development needs and financial stability of the city.

Chan said the upcoming budget, which is expected to be released next month, will strike a careful balance given the uncertainties brought by the unstable pandemic situation, rising inflation rates and heightened geopolitical tensions, even though the recovery pace of the city last year was better than expected.

Hong Kong's GDP grew 6.4 percent last year, the finance chief wrote in his blog a week earlier, adding that the progress has reversed the recession recorded in the previous two consecutive years. The finance chief also said the actual consolidated deficit for the first eight months of this financial year gradually declined from a peak of HK$115.7 billion in the first six months to HK$65.8 billion.

Though the government's fiscal figure is expected to witness a substantial improvement by the end of last December, spending would normally rise to cover day-to-day operations during the three months from January to March, he said.

Separately, despite a disappointing local stock market performance, MPFA chairman Ayesha Macpherson Lau said members should eye on long-term growth as the average MPF assets held by each scheme member amounted to HK$258,000, an increase of 164 percent as at the end of 2021, from HK$97,000 a decade ago.