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Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah delivered a budget speech remarkable chiefly for the way he managed to combine open-handed spending with political caution.
The government can certainly afford to loosen its purse strings.Tsang originally forecast a consolidated deficit of HK$39.9 billion for the fiscal year ending next month.
But by yesterday that deficit had become a projected HK$13.8 billion surplus,thanks to last year's bumper land and stamp duty revenues.
Now Tsang is planning to go out and spend,projecting consolidated deficits of HK$45 billion over the next three years.With fiscal reserves at more than HK$500 billion,Tsang could have announced a bold suite of long-term programmes to boost competitiveness,improve health care provision and tackle the city's widening inequalities.Instead,he opted for a grab-bag of one-off sweeteners worth HK$20 billion aimed at appeasing a range of interest groups.
The salaried middle class got another tax rebate,worth up to HK$6,000.Public housing residents got a two-month rent waiver.The poorest citizens received a bonus social security payment,and their school-age children were offered a HK$1,300 internet access subsidy.We all got a property rates holiday.
Some businesses will enjoy handouts too.The city's financial sector will benefit from broader tax concessions in the bond market and on exchange-traded investment funds.Trademark and copyright payments will be made tax-deductible.
But it won't be these piecemeal giveaways that plunge Hong Kong's public finances into the red for the next three years.
Tsang's projected deficits will result almost entirely from the government's massive infrastructure spending.After breaking ground on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge,the Central-Wan Chai bypass and the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou in the current financial year,the government planned to start work next year on additional projects including the Kai Tak cruise ship terminal and a Tseung Kwan O "velodrome-cum-sports centre",Tsang said.
All up,spending from the government's capital works reserve fund is projected to reach HK$55.5 billion next year,half as much again as the government is planning to allocate to health care and even more than the HK$52.2 billion Tsang plans to spend on education.For each of the following two years,capital works reserve fund spending will top HK$70 billion.
These lavish outlays will certainly keep the construction sector happy.But whether spending more on infrastructure than on education in what is an already infrastructure-dense city is really the best way to create the "knowledge-based and high-value-added economy" Tsang professes to want is less clear.
Tsang,though took a swipe at critics.The higher spending on social welfare which they advocate would be unacceptable to society,he said,and defended a "pragmatic approach to economic development".
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah delivered a budget speech remarkable chiefly for the way he managed to combine open-handed spending with political caution.
The government can certainly afford to loosen its purse strings.Tsang originally forecast a consolidated deficit of HK$39.9 billion for the fiscal year ending next month.
But by yesterday that deficit had become a projected HK$13.8 billion surplus,thanks to last year's bumper land and stamp duty revenues.
Now Tsang is planning to go out and spend,projecting consolidated deficits of HK$45 billion over the next three years.With fiscal reserves at more than HK$500 billion,Tsang could have announced a bold suite of long-term programmes to boost competitiveness,improve health care provision and tackle the city's widening inequalities.Instead,he opted for a grab-bag of one-off sweeteners worth HK$20 billion aimed at appeasing a range of interest groups.
The salaried middle class got another tax rebate,worth up to HK$6,000.Public housing residents got a two-month rent waiver.The poorest citizens received a bonus social security payment,and their school-age children were offered a HK$1,300 internet access subsidy.We all got a property rates holiday.
Some businesses will enjoy handouts too.The city's financial sector will benefit from broader tax concessions in the bond market and on exchange-traded investment funds.Trademark and copyright payments will be made tax-deductible.
But it won't be these piecemeal giveaways that plunge Hong Kong's public finances into the red for the next three years.
Tsang's projected deficits will result almost entirely from the government's massive infrastructure spending.After breaking ground on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge,the Central-Wan Chai bypass and the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou in the current financial year,the government planned to start work next year on additional projects including the Kai Tak cruise ship terminal and a Tseung Kwan O "velodrome-cum-sports centre",Tsang said.
All up,spending from the government's capital works reserve fund is projected to reach HK$55.5 billion next year,half as much again as the government is planning to allocate to health care and even more than the HK$52.2 billion Tsang plans to spend on education.For each of the following two years,capital works reserve fund spending will top HK$70 billion.
These lavish outlays will certainly keep the construction sector happy.But whether spending more on infrastructure than on education in what is an already infrastructure-dense city is really the best way to create the "knowledge-based and high-value-added economy" Tsang professes to want is less clear.
Tsang,though took a swipe at critics.The higher spending on social welfare which they advocate would be unacceptable to society,he said,and defended a "pragmatic approach to economic development".
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