Show can go on as Hong Kong lawmakers approve HK$90.45 billion in provisional funding ahead of formal budget approval
Request moved to top of agenda to ensure it passes before new financial year begins next month
Lawmakers have passed the government’s request for HK$90.45 billion in provisional funding, which would cover public expenditure until this year’s budget is approved by the legislature.
The request was approved after lawmakers agreed to move the temporary funding request to the top of the agenda ahead of other bills to ensure that it would be approved before April 1, when the new financial year begins.
Thirty-six lawmakers voted for the temporary funding request, and three against.
With only four months left in the current legislative year, the administration is in a race against the clock to ensure all the bills and funding requests scheduled are approved before the summer recess in July.
Following Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s announcement earlier this week that the government hopes to prioritise livelihood-related items in the legislature, Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam met with pro-establishment lawmakers on Thursday to discuss potential changes to the order of the meeting agenda.
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong’s Ip Kwok-him told reporters afterwards that the government expressed hope to pass all 27 the ordinances scheduled to be discussed in the council meeting this legislative year could be processed before it ends, by putting less controversial items ahead in the meeting agenda.