Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa warned yesterday the budget deficit might exceed the forecast of $60 billion, but stressed he was confident of resolving the problem in a second term.
He also promised to create an extra 2,000 government jobs and an internal review to ensure that unemployment would not worsen under any new initiatives by the administration.
In the first of his four open question-and-answer sessions with Election Committee members yesterday, Mr Tung said he expected controversial decisions would have to be made in a second term. He vowed to push through unpopular measures, but promised to explain them better and to minimise their impact.
'There are always controversial issues, for instance, the problem of deficits, new taxes, streamlining expenditure,' he said.
'Whatever you choose to do will have its problems. As a leader, one needs to have the courage to implement at the end of the day. Otherwise, the impact on society will be even greater if we choose not to do it.
'I promise that however difficult or unpopular [the decisions will be], we will do what we need to do . . . I expect such a kind of situation will happen frequently over the next five years.'
Mr Tung said he was confident the Government would be more sensitive to public opinion under the new accountability system.
