Official hoarding of cash which belongs to Hong Kong citizens goes far beyond what is usually recognised. The government's fiscal reserves are listed at HK$488 billion. This is already about 28 per cent of gross domestic product and almost two years of recurrent government expenditure.
It makes the 2 per cent of GDP deficit announced by Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, in the face of the worst economic prospects at least since 1974, look more miserly.
But this is not half the actual reserves squirrelled away by leaders who fear that freeloaders and welfare seekers will want to raid the hoard. Coming from the mouths of overpaid officials and the inherited-wealth billionaires on the Executive Council, most of whom pay little, if any, tax, the arrogance is stunning.
Here is a list of other publicly owned reserve assets:
HK$480 billion (as at the end of 2008) in the undistributed profits of the Monetary Authority's Exchange Fund. In principle, none of this is needed to defend the currency peg which is protected by the convertibility of the note issue and by the operation of interest rates. Even if cash reserves also provide additional defence, as the fiscal reserves are mostly in foreign currency, they could be used to defend the currency - just as they were in 1998 to support the stock market.
Most should either be added to the fiscal reserves or, best of all, added to Mandatory Provident Fund accounts in a way that would recognise the contribution of older workers to Hong Kong's development in the 1960s and 1970s and relieve pressure on future recurrent spending on old-age-related benefits.
Then there is an additional almost HK$265 billion in unspent cash sitting in various funds as follows (from March 2008, the latest consolidated government accounts available).