Hong Kong price range deficit to be just below HK$100 billion, monetary chief says

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s deficit for this fiscal yr is predicted to be just under HK$100 billion ($13 billion), the town’s finance chief stated on Saturday.

The federal government is “focussing on cost-saving measures” to sort out the deficit, Paul Chan advised residents on a programme on public broadcaster RTHK the place he was gathering public suggestions forward of the upcoming price range.

“Though we have to transfer ahead with public works tasks… we now have to prioritise developments in keeping with their urgency,” he stated.

The expansion charge of economic system within the first three quarters of 2024 was not as sturdy as anticipated as a consequence of excessive rates of interest and exterior challenges, Chan stated.

Hong Kong’s economic system is predicted to develop 2.5% in 2024, he wrote in a weblog put up in December. That adopted a 1.8% third quarter development charge, which fell beneath expectations.

The estimated deficit for the yr ending in March is about double the earlier forecast of HK$48.1 billion within the price range introduced in February.

Chan attributed the deficit primarily to a pointy decline in land gross sales income. Boosting the economic system amid a fiscal deficit could be Hong Kong’s “greatest problem”, he stated.

($1 = 7.7779 Hong Kong {dollars})