Education and welfare the only areas to escape funding cuts
For the first time in more than half a century, the government has recorded a drop in operating expenditure. It spent $201 billion during the last financial year - $2 billion less than in 2003-04.
Government spending in the coming financial year will be $208 billion, $4 billion less than this year's original estimate. And spending is projected to fall to just $202 billion in 2009-10.
Total public expenditure - government spending plus expenditure on non-governmental organisations - will be $268.6 billion in the coming year, representing 20.2 per cent of Hong Kong's gross domestic product.
It will drop to $264 billion in the financial year 2009-10, and will account for just 16 per cent of GDP.
In 2005-06, education, social welfare, health and security will remain the main spending areas, receiving 68.1 per cent of the government's recurrent expenditure. Education and social welfare are the only two areas to have been spared cuts.
Education will receive $48.7 billion - an increase of 0.3 per cent in real terms on the previous year - and will account for 24.5 per cent of recurrent expenditure.
