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00:00Is the V shape recovery that we saw back in SA's gonna be much harder to achieve this time around . Well it really depends. I think the rebound will be strong . But to what extent this rebound compared to the past remains to be seen. What do you say to the economists out there that say you know this can't cash handout is just not targeted enough that this is just a drop in the ocean for many that you could have used the same amount of money to really help the people in need . What do you say to those people that with that view. Well people of Hong Kong like to have choice. And indeed given this difficult situation I think the individual circumstances varies . So by giving a cash now and appearing to the people to come out to spend or help of a business encouraging the business sector to come up with incentive programs to complement this initiative from the government you said the current amount of spending is not sustainable and the government needs to look for other sources of revenue or review the tax rate. What are you considering now . Well number one consolidate our expenditure. We have seen very high rate of growth in terms of expenditure. Yes. This is necessary to improve services to catch up on a different area of social services. But there is a point that we need to consolidate. And also we need to look at the revenue aspect in terms of whether it is possible for us to to some of the tax rates whether it is advisable to open new sources of revenue. But this is something that we need to have a debate in the community. Would you consider a V a T tax day ask on and off discussions. I do think we cannot move ahead. But on the other hand we fully understand GSD requests if it is something pretty contentious . If we want to contemplate anything discussion and debate in the community is very important . Hong Kong is gonna be running large deficits for the next five years. You said and there are some economists out there that are concerned that perhaps Hong Kong is going to be facing structural deficits . We've already seen. Credit agencies like Fitch last year cut the credit rating in Hong Kong Moody's a couple of weeks ago . Is there anything that Hong Kong can do to avoid more downgrades from ratings agencies. I think about structural deficit. It is too early to draw such a conclusion. Do you think that Hong Kong home prices can still remain resilient during an epidemic like this one. We have seen the private residential property market . Downward adjustment since last August. But the degree of adjustment has been pretty mild . Even if the colon epidemic we do not see the risks of a of a quick type of downfall the circumstances is very different when compared to 2000 feet . And before .

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Hong Kong Finance Chief Sees Strong Rebound After Current Downturn

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan discusses the economic recovery, tax policy, anticipated deficits, and home prices. He speaks with Bloomberg's Yvonne Man. (Source: Bloomberg)

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