John Tsang should make our money work harder - through impact investing
Ming Wong says Hong Kong should stop hoarding and put money to work
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah has done Hong Kong a great disservice with his alarmist view that our fiscal reserves will be depleted in 20 years, following Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's announcement the government will spend up to HK$20 billion per year on measures to alleviate poverty.
Tsang also appears to be out of touch with the social challenges facing us now.
Hong Kong's reserves should never have been allowed to build up to the current outrageous level of HK$1.4 trillion. Tsang might believe that more is needed for his proverbial "rainy day", but the reality is that rain is already pouring down on Hong Kong when it comes to social and environmental issues.
Poverty and income inequality are not new issues. Neither is the lack of affordable housing or health care facilities for our rapidly ageing population. A good financial secretary works with the chief executive to execute plans for the growth and prosperity of our city. In Hong Kong's case, this obviously includes taking care of the most vulnerable members of our population.
Those who are too old, too weak or not otherwise able to work will require social welfare services. The rest need to find jobs - and that includes new immigrants, the young as well as healthy older people.
Handouts are only appropriate as emergency measures, such as when our city is in the middle of a regional financial crisis or recovering from a health epidemic. For all other times, poverty alleviation means job creation, and jobs have to come from boosting the economy, ideally across a diversified range of industries, and not just in property, finance and retailing.
The issue Leung has to address is not whether HK$10 billion (or HK$20 billion) is the right amount to spend on poverty alleviation initiatives. At issue is how the money should be spent. If Tsang wishes to be helpful to Hong Kong, he should ask his team of experts to explore how to double or treble the HK$10 billion, for instance by attracting corporate and family foundations to invest alongside this amount.