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Cannix Yau

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po is expected to provide a lifeline to a struggling Hong Kong in his budget speech on Wednesday, with a fresh round of consumption vouchers and help for desperate businesses and the unemployed.
With the city reeling from an exploding fifth wave of Covid-19 infections brought on by the Omicron variant, he has received appeals from all quarters.
Sources told the Post he was expected to offer a new round of e-vouchers and boost various funding schemes to help individuals and businesses.
“The community and political forces from all fronts have expressed high hopes and, with a lower-than-expected budget deficit, it is difficult for the financial secretary to resist,” a well-placed source said.
Chan said earlier he would keep an open mind about another round of e-vouchers, as the deficit would be much lower than the original forecast of HK$101.6 billion (US$13 billion), thanks to higher income from land sales and stamp duty.
Eligible residents received HK$5,000 worth of e-vouchers each last year to spend in shops and restaurants, in an effort to spur economic recovery. The HK$36 billion initiative was expected to contribute 0.7 per cent growth to GDP last year.
Hong Kong unemployed set to get HK$10,000 Covid-relief handout
As the Covid-19 situation worsened this year, Chan has been urged to give everyone vouchers worth as much as HK$10,000 each.
There have been growing calls to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling to survive amid ongoing strict pandemic social-distancing rules.
Businesses have complained about curbs such as the prolonged closure of 17 types of premises and the ban on dining in at restaurants from 6pm each day.
They have predicted losses totalling billions of dollars and said they feared more business closures, adding to spiralling unemployment rates.
The bleak outlook is despite a recent sixth round of pandemic relief funding worth HK$27 billion for affected businesses and individuals. It included a one-off subsidy of HK$10,000 for the jobless, with frontline workers and staff of elderly and disabled care homes receiving a monthly subsidy of HK$2,000 for five months.
The city’s largest business body, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC), urged Chan to take steps to prevent company closures and increase the city’s competitiveness.
Its suggestions included strengthening government financial schemes to badly hit sectors and their employees, offering rounds of consumption vouchers worth at least HK$4,000 each, a one-time waiver on taxes for profits and personal income of up to HK$20,000.

Referring to the Covid-19 surge, HKGCC chairman Peter Wong Tung-shun said: “Omicron will inevitably delay the reopening of the border and further postpone businesses’ hopes of a return to normality. We hope the government can urgently look into how these can be addressed.”
Webster Ng, president of the Taxation Institute of Hong Kong, called for measures to support firms and individuals, including a maximum reduction of HK$10,000 in salaries tax and profits tax, rates waivers and waiver of business registration fees.
Danny Lau Tat-pong, honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, called on Chan to extend the Special 100% Loan Guarantee Scheme to help local businesses facing a cash flow crunch.
The scheme, launched in April 2020 and extended until the end of June this year, offers affected businesses loans of up to HK$6 million for up to eight years, with firms being allowed to repay only the interest, but not the principal sum, for up to 24 months.
Hong Kong budget: should relief go to masses or targeted groups?
“Firms should be allowed to start making repayments only two years after Hong Kong has formally reopened its border with mainland China while the moratorium on repaying the principal sum should be extended by two more years,” Lau said.
As of last September, the scheme and others for SMEs have granted a total of HK$170 billion in loans to 67,000 applicants, including 41,600 companies employing 610,000 people.
Lau warned that without more funding support, many firms in a state of “devastation” would be driven out of business.
“They see no end in sight for their woes and they don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel amid the current chaotic zero-Covid policy,” he said.
Thousands of Hong Kong restaurants close, suspend operations amid harsh rules
Ray Chui Man-wai, chairman of catering industry body the Institute of Dining Art, said the e-vouchers should be worth HK$10,000 apiece and the maximum loan under the loan guarantee scheme should be doubled to HK$12 million to help companies with serious cash flow problems.
He also called for a fresh round of wage subsidies to provide stricken businesses HK$9,000 for every employee per month for six months.
“The catering sector alone has suffered a 90 per cent drop in business during this period. They need more funding support to survive,” he said.
Cheng Wai-lok, 49, who runs a Japanese restaurant in Jordan, has been hit hard by the recent tightening of dine-in restrictions.


He said he was desperate for the government to enhance the loan guarantee scheme so he could borrow HK$3 million on top of the HK$3 million he got in April 2020.
“Before the fifth wave of infections, I ordered a lot of goods for the festive season. Now I desperately need cash to pay for those supplies,” he said.
Writing on his official blog on Sunday, Chan said the government needed to provide relief for members of the public and SMEs while planning for long-term economic development, referring to the measures in the coming budget.
Revealing that the colour of his budget speech was brown, Chan said it was similar to soil which stored nutrients for saplings to grow.
Additional reporting by Gary Cheung


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Hong Kong

Hong Kong economy

Coronavirus

Economic Impact


With a smaller budget deficit than expected, Paul Chan is likely to be generous in providing help
Omicron surge has put businesses on edge despite recent round of HK$27 billion relief measures



With a smaller budget deficit than expected, Paul Chan is likely to be generous, as Omicron surge keeps businesses on the brink.


Coronavirus Hong Kong

Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Paul Chan

Budget 2022-23: struggling Hong Kong pins hopes on finance chief to provide e-vouchers, easy loans to help desperate businesses, save jobs

With a smaller budget deficit than expected, Paul Chan is likely to be generous in providing help Omicron surge has put businesses on edge despite recent round of HK$27 billion relief measures

With a smaller budget deficit than expected, Paul Chan is likely to be generous in providing help

Omicron surge has put businesses on edge despite recent round of HK$27 billion relief measures