This Trillion-Dollar City Doesn’t Know How Rich It Is
Hong Kong is rolling in fiscal reserves and budget surpluses. It also faces questions over its long-term financial future.
Hong Kong reins in the budget fireworks.
Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg
Hong Kongers want their government to loosen its purse strings. The city has shortages of doctors and housing, leaving families with long waits for medical appointments and fueling anxiety over the world’s most expensive home prices. Students fret for their future, unsatisfied with an administration that pays their examination fees for secondary school diplomas though appears reluctant to guarantee more basic needs.
So why doesn’t Financial Secretary Paul Chan do more to ease the burden? After all, Hong Kong posted a budget surplus of HK$58.7 billion ($7.5 billion) for the 2018-19 fiscal year, more than the HK$46.6 billion Chan forecast in February last year.