SO HERE WE are with a fiscal deficit that in the 12 months to January this year has topped HK$80 billion, already well above the financial secretary's estimate of HK$70 billion for the full fiscal year, and equivalent to about 6.2 per cent of gross domestic product, more than double the World Bank's safety guideline.
Let us go through a rundown of some of the expenditure measures our government is taking to deal with this problem. Unfortunately, 'spend more' measures still seem to be more prominent than 'spend less' measures.
First up we have the acting commissioner for Innovation and Technology, Sarah Kwok, indulging in a long piece of government techno-babble in the Technology section of this newspaper yesterday.
If there is one activity in which our government officials show true expertise, it is in patting themselves on the back while telling us that we believe all they tell us. Ms Kwok did not hold back.
'The government's initiatives and programmes on promoting innovation and technology are progressing well, with a wide acceptance of the value of innovative and creative thinking in broadening Hong Kong's economic activities.'
Let us take one example that Ms Kwok mentioned. Science Park, she wrote, 'is creating a focal point and conducive environment in which technology-based firms can operate successfully'.