Since the publication of the new budget, as Hong Kong has gradually returned to normal recently, many people still have disputes over whether to still distribute consumer vouchers.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said today (25th) that he understands that there are differences in the community on this matter, but he reiterated that different people have different situations, and some citizens still face great pressure. "When asked whether distributing consumer vouchers every year would give people the illusion that money will be distributed every year, Chen Maobo bluntly said that distributing consumer vouchers every year involves a lot of public money, so "financially, it is impossible to do it for a long time."
In recent years, Hong Kong's fiscal treasury will record a deficit. Chen Maobo said that he has been constantly reviewing fiscal reserves and will moderately balance fiscal reserve surpluses and expenditures. "We will not save money for the sake of saving money."
He also pointed out that the current fiscal reserves are still maintained at a healthy level, which is similar to the expenditure of the Hong Kong government in the past 12 months.
▼On February 22, Chen Maobo announced the key points of the budget▼
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The new budget was released on Wednesday (22nd). As in previous years, consumer vouchers were distributed, but the "shrunk" half was only 5,000 yuan. However, Hong Kong has gradually returned to normal recently, and many people wonder whether to still distribute consumer vouchers controversial.
Chen Maobo said in a radio program today that he understands that there are differences in the society on this matter, and said with a smile that "they are all anticipated".
However, he also explained that the current external environment is unstable, and the European and American markets are weak, which may affect Hong Kong's economic system. In addition, the Hong Kong economy has just recovered, and the economy in the first half of the year is still weak. The turnover of the retail industry is still very different from that before the epidemic. Among them, the export industry is even worse.
Distributing consumer vouchers will have a multiplier effect
He reiterated that different people have different situations, and some citizens still face a lot of pressure. In addition, the distribution of consumer vouchers will have a multiplier effect. He quoted a university study that "distributing 5,000 mosquitoes will wash 3,000 mosquitoes more", so he thinks there is still a need Distribute coupons.
When he went to the Sha Tin drop-off area earlier, some elders told him that they would "add food" because of the coupons, and said that they would rather save the money given out in the past, but because the coupons have an expiry date, the coupons have a certain role in promoting the economy. effect.
Dear middle-class friends, I am really embarrassed, I really have nothing to do, just watch and eat.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po
When asked whether distributing consumer coupons every year would give people the illusion that money will be distributed every year, Chen Maobo bluntly said that distributing consumer coupons every year involves a lot of public money, so "financially, it is impossible to do it for a long time." He also pointed out that in the past three years The one-time relief measures have been gradually reduced. He reiterated that the past three years have been really difficult, and "the well-being of the people is the duty of government." There have been deficits for four years, and I have helped the middle class within my ability.
▼Budget 2023 Lazy Bag▼
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In recent years, Hong Kong’s treasury has recorded a deficit, and this year’s revised budget will record a deficit of 139.8 billion yuan, which is higher than the original estimate of 56 billion yuan.
He pointed out that the current fiscal reserves, such as the 12-month expenditure of the Hong Kong government, believe that the current level is very healthy. In addition, the growth of future expenditure will slow down, and future expenditure will also be lower than economic growth.
"Don't save money for the sake of saving money"
Different financial secretaries have different views on financial reserves. For example, when Tung Chee-hwa was the chief executive, Leung Kam-chung, the then financial secretary, said that the reserves should be equivalent to 9 to 11 months of government expenditure; when Donald Tsang was the chief executive, then Financial Secretary John Tsang said that the more reserves the better.
When asked about his views on fiscal reserves, Chen Maobo pointed out that too much surplus is equal to drawing society's resources into the government, "but it is most efficient to use the money in the private market first." On the other hand, having sufficient fiscal reserves is also a good thing, representing Government investment is profitable, so the two need to be properly balanced. "I will not save money for the sake of saving money", emphasizing that the government should work for the well-being of the citizens.
On February 22, Chen Maobo announced a new "Financial Budget", and then held a press conference.
(Photo by Zhang Haowei)
The Budget proposes to issue infrastructure bonds, which has attracted criticism that this move is only to increase cash flow for financial technology.
Chen Maobo explained that the main consideration of issuing bonds is to increase cash flow to allow infrastructure to be completed on time, promote the development of the bond market, and use the proceeds of bond issuance for investment.
He emphasized that the government’s issuance of infrastructure bonds will not be used to pay for daily expenses. He believes that issuing special bonds is not the smartest decision. It is sufficient to disclose the infrastructure projects supported by the bond issuance and list them for daily expenses.
He also mentioned that the borrowing ratio of neighboring cities has reached 130%, but Hong Kong will issue about 65 billion yuan of bonds every year in the next five years, which will only account for less than 10% of the GDP, which is still at a safe borrowing level.
He reiterated that the government has invested resources in medical care, social welfare and other expenses in the past period of time. Now that the social level has improved a lot, it should concentrate on the economy in the future.
It was not the right time to study the introduction of sales tax
There are opinions that the government should consider expanding the tax base and start discussions on this. Chen Maobo said that the government has proposed many proposals, but due to the sensitivity, it is inconvenient to disclose the relevant details.
He also quoted Tang Ying-year, then Financial Secretary, who announced the study of introducing a 5% goods and services tax in 2006, which aroused opposition from the outside world. He reiterated that the timing of the discussion is very important. "He also said that the financial situation should not only be observed for one or two years, but should be reviewed in light of the overall economic cycle.
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