The main purposes of budget 2020-2021 are revitalising economy and relieving burden from the locals. Our Financial Secretary, Paul Chan focused on leading Hong Kong to a diversified economy.
Looking back 2019, GDP growth rate was -1.2%. This figure shown there was slightly decline in previous year. Hong Kong may experience a negative or very slow economic growth in 2020. So, Chan forecasts the GP growth rate for 2020 is -1.5% to 0.5%. The government planned to raise its expenditure along with relief measures. This will help the city to ride out the economic slump.
The budget proposed will leads our economy to ride out the difficulties through below aspects:
Relieving People’s burden
- $10,000 cash payout to every Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above
Financial Services
- Launch a $1 billion pilot scheme for fixed-rate mortgages to help reduce risks of interest rate volatility for homebuyers
- Issue inflation-linked retail bonds and Silver Bonds totalling not less than $13 billion
- Issue green bonds totalling $66 billion in next 5 years
Innovation and Technology
- Earmark $3 billion to take forward Phase 2 of the Science Park Expansion Programme
- Explore the establishment of a third InnoHK research cluster
- Increase the grant ceiling under the Technology Voucher Programme to $600,000 and raise the Government’s funding ratio to 75%
- Inject $345 million for a pilot subsidy scheme to encourage the logistics industry to enhance productivity through the application of technology
Tourism
- Additional funding of over $700 million for the Hong Kong Tourism Board to step up external promotion after the epidemic
Trade
- Additional funding of $150 million for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to assist Hong Kong enterprises in exploring business opportunities
Professional Services
- Earmark about $450 million to implement the “Vision 2030 for Rule of Law” project to strengthen the Hong Kong community’s understanding of the concept of the rule of law and its implementation
Cultural and Creative Industries
- Additional $900 million to the Art Development Matching Grants Scheme to promote sponsorship of culture and arts from all sectors
Nurture Talents
- Expand the Researcher Programme and Postdoctoral Hub to cover all technology companies conducting R&D activities in Hong Kong
Still, this is the proposal and subject to final approval from the Legislative Council.
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