A person sporting a protecting face masks stands on Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront that faces Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong.
Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Pictures
The Hong Kong authorities will spend greater than 120 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($15.5 billion) within the coming monetary yr to carry its financial system, which has been in recession for 2 years.
“Hong Kong went by way of tribulations previously two years,” Hong Kong’s Monetary Secretary Paul Chan stated in his finances speech on Wednesday.
“With the epidemic nonetheless lingering, our financial system is but to return out of recession,” he stated, in keeping with an official English translation of his Cantonese speech.
Hong Kong’s financial system has suffered six consecutive quarters of contractions after battling a number of crises, together with the U.S.-China commerce struggle that intensified in 2018, months of pro-democracy protests in 2019 and the continuing pandemic.
Over the previous yr, the federal government has elevated spending to assist companies and households deal with challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. However that has additionally introduced the fiscal finances to a document excessive, stated Chan.
For the approaching monetary yr beginning in April, Chan introduced measures that embrace the next:
- Round 8.4 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($1.1 billion) for procurement and administration of Covid-19 vaccines.
- About 9.5 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($1.2 billion) price of measures to help companies, together with a discount in earnings tax and waiver of enterprise registration charges.
- For people, help embrace a discount in salaries tax, mortgage ensures and consumption vouchers price 5,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($645) for every eligible resident.
Financial outlook
Hong Kong’s financial system shrank 6.1% in 2020 — accelerating from the 1.2% contraction within the earlier yr, official knowledge confirmed.
Chan stated the town’s financial system will return to development this yr. He stated GDP is predicted to increase by 3.5% to five.5% this yr, and a mean of three.3% yearly from 2022 to 2025.
However progress of the financial restoration this yr “will hinge on the event of the epidemic,” stated the monetary secretary.
“As cross-boundary motion of individuals and tourism actions take time to renew regular, the financial system will nonetheless face important challenges within the first half of the yr,” he stated in his finances speech.
Hong Kong began its Covid vaccination program this week. The federal government stated final week it has bought a complete of twenty-two.5 million doses of Covid vaccine — “enough” for everybody within the metropolis.
With a inhabitants of round 7.5 million, Hong Kong has reported greater than 10,890 circumstances of the coronavirus and 197 deaths as of Tuesday, official knowledge confirmed.
