Hong Kong’s financial secretary to deliver budget address in person at Legislative Council next week, despite coronavirus disruptions

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po will deliver his budget address in person at the Legislative Council on Wednesday despite disruptions to government services caused by the coronavirus outbreak, his office said on Friday.

Chan’s fourth budget speech will reveal the extent of the city’s deficit for 2019-20, a first in 15 years, which has been driven by the double whammy of the US-China trade war and Covid-19 epidemic.

Of key interest is whether the finance minister will announce cash hand outs – something called for by numerous interest groups – in addition to the raft of relief measures totalling HK$30 billion announced by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor earlier this month.

“[The budget] will be delivered as usual,” a government source told the Post. “Members of [Chan’s] office have been working in the office.”

Most civil servants, aside from those providing emergency and essential public services, have been working from home since January 29, a policy that has since been extended until March 1.

The source added the administration would not cancel the traditional lock-up session for media, in which hundreds of journalists are briefed by officials with details of the budget.

But according to an announcement made by Chan’s office, the number of media representatives will be limited to nine per organisation. All will be subject to temperature checks and must bring their own masks. No food and drinks other than drinking water will be allowed in the venue.

The address, meanwhile, must be physically delivered in Legco chambers, as it is a bill that is subject to legislative procedure, another government source said.

Hong Kong budget deficit to increase in 2020-21, finance chief Paul Chan says

That would rule out a repeat of Lam’s decision to deliver the bulk of her annual policy address by video in October after her attempt to address Legco in person was cut short by heckling pro-democracy lawmakers.

“The budget is essentially an appropriations bill that is subject to procedures like other bills,” the source said. “There is a fundamental difference with a policy address.”

According to section 5 of the Public Finance Ordinance, the financial secretary is required to prepare the financial estimates of the following year and “cause such estimates to be laid before the Legislative Council before or as soon as practicable after the commencement of the financial year”.

Meanwhile, all signs from Legco suggest it is preparing for business as usual on Wednesday, with the secretariat making arrangements for lawmakers to book rooms for press conferences after the budget speech, according to a source familiar with preparations.

The source added that Legco president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen announced last Wednesday that the council would reconvene on February 26.

The council’s financial committee has also reserved five days for special meetings on government expenditures arising from the upcoming budget on April 3 and April 6 to 9.

Last month, Chan warned that the deficit for the current financial year could be as much as 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), or about HK$80 billion (US$10.3 billion).

He also said the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the city’s economy would probably be larger than that during the Sars outbreak of 2003.

Hong Kong’s biggest budget deficit in history was about HK$63.3 billion in 2001-02. That was followed by a deficit of HK$61.7 billion in 2002-03 and HK$40.1 billion in 2003-04. The city reported a surplus of HK$21.4 billion in 2004-05.

Additional reporting by Sum Lok-kei