CY Leung's annual report of the government's work criticised for 'hiding evils'

"Significant progress" has been achieved on tackling the city's housing shortage and fighting poverty, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said yesterday as he announced the release of an annual report covering his second year as leader.

But it failed to impress lawmakers from across the political spectrum, who accused Leung of only reporting good news.

The 41-page report, published on the website of the Chief Executive's Office, outlined the administration's work in nine parts, including the economy, poverty alleviation, housing, administration and constitutional affairs.

It mentioned the government's unveiling of the first official poverty line in September last year, and stated that since a series of stamp duty measures were introduced in February last year, "as at April 2014, overall property prices have only slightly increased by 0.1 per cent per month on average".

That was much lower than the average monthly increase of 2.7 per cent in the first two months last year, it says, adding that flat prices had fallen by about 0.6 per cent in the first quarter this year.