MonitorAt last Tsang accepts that our fiscal policy needs an overhaul
With the financial chief's history of inaccurate forecasts and one-off handouts, a new approach to planning the budget is long overdue
At least some of the criticism directed at John Tsang Chun-wah recently must have stung. In his budget speech yesterday, the financial secretary attempted to defend his piecemeal approach to fiscal policy while simultaneously promising to set up a working group to formulate "more comprehensive planning for our public finances".
A new approach is badly needed. A year ago, Tsang predicted he would run a deficit of HK$3.4 billion for the 12 months to March.
Like others, Monitor was dubious. Once the figures were in, this column looked back at Tsang's history of inaccurate budget projections and on June 29 declared "on that form, the HK$3.4 billion deficit he is forecasting for the current fiscal year will end up as a HK$61 billion surplus".
Even that prediction was too cautious. Yesterday, Tsang estimated the government would actually turn in a surplus this year of HK$64.9 billion.
With this embarrassment of riches at his disposal, Tsang resorted to his usual grab bag of "one-off" handouts, including an HK$11.6 billion rate waiver and a HK$4.5 billion subsidy for household electricity bills.