Hong Kong authorities will seek half of the HK$440 million (US$56.2 million) investment for a planned national innovation centre in Yuen Long from the private sector, while setting performance benchmarks that an analyst has called ambitious. The target was announced after Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po revealed the plan in his latest budget in February,…
The surge in oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict will drive up the cost of plastic products, construction materials and even household goods such as toilet paper in Hong Kong, according to business leaders. They also warned on Monday that some local exporters and manufacturers faced a cash-flow squeeze as overseas buyers opted…
Proposed designated laws to streamline land-use approval procedures for the Northern Metropolis megaproject will not undermine the authority of Hong Kong’s town planning body, some experts have argued while urging the government to establish clear key performance indicators (KPIs) to strengthen market confidence. Observers were responding to a package of six subsidiary laws unveiled on…
Hong Kong authorities have proposed designated laws to streamline procedures for changing land use in the Northern Metropolis megaproject, cutting the process from typically nine months to just two. Unveiled by the Development Bureau on Tuesday, the proposed designated legislation comprises six main subsidiary laws designed to remove bottlenecks in the massive scheme near the…
Hong Kong has been urged to extend its stock trading hours to maintain its status as an international financial hub, as competitors move towards near 24-hour operations to capture global liquidity. Speaking at the “Redefining Hong Kong 2026 Budget Edition” forum organised by the South China Morning Post on Monday, Kenny Shui Chi-wai, vice-president of…
Hong Kong is betting big on innovation, artificial intelligence and redoubling its focus on its international financial centre role as it aligns its economic future with the country’s development goals, the financial secretary has said while unveiling a budget allocating billions of dollars to these sectors. Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday spotlighted the development of…
Hong Kong’s finance chief has set aside HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) to kick-start the Northern Metropolis in his latest budget, aiming to accelerate the megaproject through the government’s partnership with developers and tech enterprises. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced on Wednesday that three companies overseeing the Hetao Hong Kong Park, the San Tin Technopole…
We live in an interesting time. It has become clear that many Hong Kong couples would rather have a pet than a child. Small families are now the norm: a 2022 survey by the Family Planning Association showed that childless families made up 43.2 per cent of the population, followed by one-child families at 27.4…
Hong Kong has ambitious plans to become an international higher education hub. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced as much in his policy address. We are home to top-ranked universities, and the plan seems on track. But are we really preparing our children for these education ambitions? Are we equipping them to join our top-ranked…
About 40 per cent of Hongkongers struggle to distinguish between proprietary Chinese medicine and health supplements, according to a survey by a think tank that has developed a tool to assess public literacy in the traditional discipline. Our Hong Kong Foundation on Thursday released the findings of a survey conducted last August, using the tool…