HONG KONG– HONG KONG (AP)– Hong Kong will certainly reduce hundreds of public service tasks and increase investing in expert system as it looks for to take on a raising shortage, authorities stated Wednesday.
Money Assistant Paul Chan stated throughout a budget plan speech that there would certainly be a “advancing decrease” of federal government recurring expense by 7% from currently till 2027-2028. Hong Kong’s shortage had actually gotten to $87.2 billion Hong Kong bucks ($ 11.2 billion) for the fiscal year of 2024-2025, making it the 3rd straight year of losses.
” It provides us a clear path in the direction of the objective of bring back monetary equilibrium,” Chan stated.
He stated 10,000 civil slave blog posts would certainly be reduced by April 2027, standing for a decrease of concerning 2% of the public service in each of the following 2 years. Wages will certainly additionally be iced up in the public service this year.
Chan additionally stated that as much as $195 billion Hong Kong bucks ($ 25 billion) well worth of bonds will certainly additionally be provided in the following 5 years to guarantee progression of essential framework tasks, with majority utilized to re-finance sort-term financial obligation.
To increase earnings, Hong Kong will certainly additionally increase its flight terminal separation tax obligation from 120 Hong Kong bucks ($ 15.50) to 200 Hong Kong bucks ($ 25.70) from the 3rd quarter of the year, standing for a 67% boost.
Individually, Hong Kong will certainly additionally make a press right into expert system by leveraging the city’s “internationalized particular to establish Hong Kong right into a global exchange and co-operation center for the AI market.”
Authorities have actually additionally allocated $1 billion Hong Kong bucks for an AI r & d institute, and will certainly establish a $10 billion ($ 1.29 billion) development and modern technology fund to buy “arising and future markets of calculated significance.”
Hong Kong’s funds have actually been affected by a weak home market, as home prices plunged some 30% over the last 3 years. It is additionally coming to grips with financial unpredictability and geopolitical stress as U.S.-China relationships degrade.
The quantity of land costs paid by designers to the federal government has actually decreased, harming Hong Kong’s incomes. Land sales commonly comprised concerning a fifth of federal government earnings, however this has actually been up to simply over 5% in the last .
Hong Kong’s monetary gets will certainly reduce 12% from $734.5 billion Hong Kong bucks ($ 94.5 billion) to concerning $647.3 billion Hong Kong bucks ($ 83.3 billion) by the end of March, and a more 10% in 2025-26, Chan stated.
