Hong Kong businesses hurt by democracy protests to get relief in budget
Across-the-board government giveaways expected to compensate companies that suffered losses during 79-day mass protest
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah will use his budget later this month to unveil one-off relief measures - such as reductions or waivers of certain fees and charges - to help industries affected by the Occupy Central protests, a person familiar with the situation told the .
Logistics and catering are among the sectors that are expected to benefit from the government giveaways. Tsang said early last month that he would look into ways of helping businesses that were hit by the 79-day mass sit-ins in his budget speech on February 25.
The relief measures would be across the board rather than specifically targeting companies operating in districts where the Occupy protests took place.
Tsang had said the government must compensate businesses in a timely manner to minimise the negative impacts on the city's economy.
The source said the relief measures would not specifically target companies located in districts affected by Occupy protests as it would be difficult to implement such measures.
"If companies located in certain districts benefitted from relief measures, others in other districts would ask why they are left out," the source said.
"But the scale of the reduction or waiver of fees will not be large. The government wants to use this opportunity to respond to the concerns of sectors hit by the Occupy protests," the source said.
Some businesses complained of falling incomes and a worsening trading environment during the Occupy protests.
In December, the Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, which represents about 6,000 restaurants and bars, blamed the Occupy movement for a loss in business of more than HK$3 billion since it began in late September, when main roads in core commercial areas of Mong Kok, Admiralty, and Causeway Bay were blocked. The sit-ins ended on December 15.
The loss was roughly 3 per cent of the turnover of the sector in a year, and the federation said it could take affected establishments up to two years to make it up, given thin profit margins.
But the impact on the retail sector during Occupy was not as big as some expected. While the protests were under way, retail sales increased by 1.4 per cent year-on-year for October and were up 4.2 per cent on the same period in 2013. It fell 3.9 per cent year-on-year for December.
Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the federation, said his sector hoped the government would exempt restaurants from paying the sewage charge or the trade effluent surcharge, the latter of which applies to certain industries including catering.
Wong also called for an exemption of the annual restaurant licence fee, ranging from HK$2,500 to HK$125,800, depending on the shop size.
He suggested a provisional low-interest or interest-free loan to restaurants located in Occupy-hit areas - 1,000 businesses in Central and Western district were affected, he said. The loan would help solve cash flow problems, Wong suggested, adding that those shops would need about HK$300,000 to HK$500,000.
Wong Po-keung, chairman of the Taxi Owners Association, which led an alliance of buses, taxis and trucks that objected to Occupy, said the group wrote to the financial secretary asking him to exempt payment of licence fees for commercial vehicles. Vouchers for fuel would also help, he added.
The reported yesterday that Tsang was planning more than HK$20 billion in sweeteners for the public amid global economic uncertainty and a big government surplus.
