With the recovery under way, few new incentives are offered
Emphasis is placed on consolidation and building on gains made last year
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa appears to have decided that less is more where the economy is concerned, as his annual policy speech yesterday outlined few goals or measures to boost it.
Mr Tung said Hong Kong should see sustained growth this year, having successfully battled a series of economic problems in the past few years, including the outbreak of Sars and a global slowdown.
Closer integration with the mainland and an improving world economy would help, but there was work still to be done, the chief executive said.
'The hard work of the people and the economic development strategy, plus various measures adopted by the government, are gradually producing results,' the chief executive said.
Mr Tung stressed that Hong Kong should build upon the achievements made in the previous year, including the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, the approval of renminbi business for Hong Kong banks, the cross-delta bridge and individual visits for travellers from the mainland.
'This year I think we should turn our focus to consolidating our work,' Mr Tung said at a press conference shortly after making his speech.
'If we do that this year and next year, our economy will continue to improve and [our rate of] employment will also continue to pick up.'
Some analysts complained about the lack of new ideas, while others said they agreed with Mr Tung.
'Rather than taking too many new initiatives that would just lead us astray, it would be quite a good time to consolidate what we've got,' said Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, the chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Industries, which has more than 2,000 members.
'We don't want 100 new different things, which may divert a lot more resources.'
Harking back to last year's address, Mr Tung said the government would develop and expand Hong Kong's core industries of logistics and tourism, as well as boosting its financial services sector.
He also talked broadly about the need to promote manufacturing, which has all but disappeared from Hong Kong, as well as hi-tech and creative industries, education and health care.
The chief executive did not forget the budget deficit, expected to hit $78 billion this year. He repeated last year's promise to cut spending, raise taxes and fees, and promote growth to close the gap.
But he added: 'We will take closely into account changes in the community when considering what people can realistically bear.
'We will seek to strike a careful balance between reducing the fiscal deficit and safeguarding people's livelihoods, and give the community adequate time to recover.'
This led some analysts to believe no changes were in the works.
'He indicated the economic recovery seems to be working,' said Guy Ellis, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
'I don't think we're going to see new taxes or an increase in taxes, or any significant cut in expenditure.
'But we'll have to wait until the budget speech.'
