New | BUDGET 2015: 5 key points to look out for

Think of the budget as the government’s shopping list for the coming year and an indicator of the city’s financial health. Here are five key points to look out for in this year’s speech.

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Money makes the world go round: Hong Kong has had a budget surplus for the past decade. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 11:36am, 25 Feb 2015Updated: 3:14pm, 25 Feb 2015

Hong Kong’s annual budget is an important announcement – and not just because you may get to pay lower taxes. Think of the budget as the government’s shopping list for the coming year and an indicator of the city’s financial health. Here are five key points to look out for in this year’s speech.

Hong Kong and Greece are leagues apart in terms of budgets. Greece is heavily in debt, and Hong Kong has had a budget surplus for the past decade. In 2011, Hong Kong could even afford to hand out HK$6,000 to residents.

But while that’s the case now, Hong Kong’s population is getting older. By 2041, one in three people will be 65 or older. That means the government has to spend more on health care and social welfare.

Greeks gather in front of parliament during an anti-austerity and pro-government demonstration in Athens. Photo: Reuters

A government working group said that if Hong Kong keeps spending as much as it does and does nothing about the ageing population, the city could be as heavily indebted as Greece by 2041. Specifically, they project a deficit of HK$1.54 trillion by then. When that report came out last March, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said he didn’t think the working group’s prediction was pessimistic.