HONG KONG (Reuters) – The following are highlights of Hong Kong’s budget for the 2022/23 fiscal year starting in April.
The budget was presented by Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Wednesday.
KEY FIGURES
* Counter-cyclical measures will total over HK$170 billion ($21.79 billion), to boost economy by about three percentage points
* Says 2021 GDP growth at 6.4%
* Forecasts 2022 GDP growth between 2 and 3.5%
* Forecasts 2022 headline inflation at 2.1%
* Forecasts 2022 underlying inflation at 2%
* Forecasts average growth rate of 3% per annum in real terms from 2023-2026
* Q4 GDP growth at 4.8% year-on-year
* Q4 GDP growth at 0.2% quarter-on-quarter
* Says economic activities, particularly the consumption-related sectors, will continue to be under intense pressure
* Says the economic performance in the first quarter is not optimistic
MEASURES:
* Says to reduce salaries tax payable by 100%, capped at HK$10,000
* Says to issue HK$10,000 electronic consumer voucher for residents 18 and over
* Says to support enterprises, will reduce profit tax for the year of assessment 2021/22 by 100%, subject to a ceiling of HK$10,000
* To waive business registration fees for 2022-23
* To earmark HK$13.2 billion to create time-limited jobs in public and private sectors to ease the unemployment situation
($1 = 7.8029 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
