Hong Kong’s financial secretary has pledged to focus on curbing growth in recurring expenses and prioritising public works to rebalance the budget in the next three to five years, with the government deficit forecast to reach nearly HK$100 billion.
Paul Chan Mo-po also said on Saturday he “absolutely disagrees” that home prices would definitely fall and reiterated his opposition to resuming land sales via an application list system to ensure the government retained full control over supply.
The estimated deficit for the 2024-25 financial year had initially been put at HK$48.1 billion (US$6.2 billion) in last February’s budget, though Chan had since suggested the shortfall could hit “about HK$100 billion” owing to disappointing land sales revenues.
During a town hall session on Saturday, the financial chief updated the forecast before next month’s budget speech, saying the deficit would “hit somewhere under HK$100 billion”, as the back-to-back shortfall again came into focus.
He said the government would ramp up spending cut initiatives in the next budget.
“Everyone talks about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, but our main focus will be on reducing expenditure,” he said.