BUDGET 2015: Future fund could provide long-term savings for ageing Hongkongers

A savings scheme under the proposed “future fund” could finally be rolled out this year, as the government and the Monetary Authority continue to work out the details two years after it was first announced in the budget.

“The future fund will serve as long-term savings and be placed in long-term investments for higher returns,” Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said as he delivered his latest budget speech in the Legislative Council today.

The idea of establishing the fund was floated in Tsang’s budget speech in 2013. Over the past two years, its intended use has swung between the two options of covering expenses related to the ageing population and infrastructure construction costs.

Two years ago, Tsang announced the establishment of a working group to study the way forward for Hong Kong’s fiscal planning “to cope with the ageing population and the government’s other long-term commitments.” The group later studied the experience of establishing future funds in Australia and New Zealand as a way to meet the needs of the ageing populations in those countries.

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But the focus shifted last year when Tsang said in his ensuing budget speech that the Hong Kong version of the fund would be used to pay infrastructure construction at times of fiscal deficits, according to the working group’s recommendation. Some pressure groups and lawmakers have since criticised the government for abandoning the original purpose of the scheme.