Hong Kong authorities should consider gradually raising some service charges to a cost-recovery level for the government’s long-term financial health despite the move not having an immediate effect on the nearly HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) deficit, experts have said. Experts on Monday pointed to immigration charges such as visa and passport fees and illegal parking…
Beijing is concerned that Hong Kong may need help from mainland Chinese companies in developing large cross-border projects amid a public deficit, analysts have said, after its point man on city affairs met local officials ahead of the annual budget address. Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), on Sunday…
Hong Kong SAR–(Newsfile Corp. – January 23, 2025) – Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Paul Chan, is among nearly 3,000 political leaders, financial officials and business elites attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Hong Kong SAR’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, speaks at the “2025 Davos-Caixin…
The national drive to turn 11 southern cities into an economic powerhouse was little more than a concept when it was first rolled out in early 2019. Today, the development of the Greater Bay Area has become a reality, with cross-border integration and collaboration advancing in a way that seemed unimaginable just a few years…
Hong Kong’s leader will conduct his annual duty visit to Beijing to meet state leaders on Wednesday, a week after replacing his transport and tourism ministers and pledging to do more during the second half of his five-year tenure. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will make a four-day duty visit to brief leaders in the…
The Hong Kong government could reduce land sale prices, improve the efficiency of 167,000 civil servants and temporarily freeze their pay as possible solutions to ease the HK$100 billion (HK$12.85 billion) deficit, experts have said, while admitting there are no simple solutions. A day after finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po projected the deficit would more…
Hong Kong’s deficit will more than double to HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) in the 2024-25 financial year from the HK$48 billion forecast the previous year, the finance chief has said, with the city feeling the pinch from a property slump and weakened corporate performance. At a meeting of the Legislative Council’s financial affairs panel on…
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways’ relaunched direct passenger flights to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh will unlock business and travel opportunities between the city and the Middle East despite escalating geopolitics tensions, the financial secretary has said. Paul Chan Mo-po, who is among about 200 passengers on the inaugural flight CX647 scheduled to…
Hong Kong, SAR–(Newsfile Corp. – October 24, 2024) – Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is visiting the United States (October 22-24), where he delivered keynote speeches at the Bloomberg Global Regulatory Forum on the topic of financial sustainability (October 22) and at a business luncheon (October 23) in New…
Hong Kong will continue to lobby Beijing to encourage more mainland Chinese companies to list in the city and improve the flow of people, data and capital within the Greater Bay Area, the finance chief has said. “We continue to lobby the central government for policies that are good for Hong Kong,” Financial Secretary Paul…