An Executive Councillor yesterday told the SAR's 190,000 civil servants to expect another year without a pay rise.
Tam Yiu-chung's remarks coincided with earlier suggestions Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen would announce a freeze on civil service pay in his Budget on March 8.
Mr Tsang announced a pay freeze for civil servants in last year's budget, pre-empting the pay trend survey, which is usually used to decide civil service wage rises.
Speaking at yesterday's City Forum, Mr Tam said he had reservations about cutting wages for serving civil servants.
And he said it was not appropriate to speculate on pay adjustments before the pay trend survey was released in April or May.
But he added: 'Judging from the situation in the private sector, I would not be surprised if we are to decide to freeze pay for civil servants.' Over the past two years, many companies have introduced pay freezes and made staff redundant.
