Business

The government is estimated to have $30 billion worth of surplus in this financial year.  

A total of 8.1 billion be provided to support for film, fashion and sports sectors.

28,000 public housing units and 29,000 private housing units can be provided to the housing market, according to this year's Budget.  

The Budget spends $66 billion to support the underprivileged, which will mostly be aimed at the elderly.  

The government pours a total of $380 million into the tourism sector in this year's Budget.  

Hong Kong Science Park will take the lead in smart production and research with $8.2 billion from the Government.

The healthcare sector will see an increase in hospital beds and medical facilities this year.

The Budget this year focuses on six major fields: Education, I.T., Tourism, Land, Healthcare and Social Welfare.

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced his ninth Budget on February 24th. In his speech he promised an increase in financial services in the coming year. Cross-boundary Services In 2015, RMB trade settlement conducted through Hong Kong banks totaled RMB 6.8 trillion, representing a nine per cent increase over 2014.  RMB lending business also continued to grow.  Outstanding loans amounted to RMB 300 billion at end-2015, representing an increase of 58 per cent as compared with 2014. Hong Kong authorities shall continue to explore with the Mainland authorities ways to open up more channels for the two-way cross-boundary RMB fund flows, including the possibility of increasing the investment quota for us under the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) Scheme. Mr. John Tsang Chun-wah said "We have discussed with relevant authorities of the Central Government the launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the enhancement of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect.  " Asset Management At the end of 2014, the combined fund management business amounted to $18 trillion, representing a year-on-year growth of 10.5 per cent.  Funds from overseas investors continued to increase and recorded growth of nine per cent in 2014, accounting for over 70 per cent of the fund management business. The capital under management in private equity funds amounted to US$120 billion as at September 2015. Green Finance The development of green finance is proposed in the Proposal on Formulating the National 13th Five-Year Plan.  The Mainland's financial institutions are promoting relevant financing products such as green bonds to raise capital for environmental projects with a long payback period, such as renewable energy technology, waste treatment and sewage treatment.  Government will strengthen efforts to publicize Hong Kong competitive capital market and highlight edge in developing green financial products.  The Airport Authority (AA) will also explore the …

  Mr. John Tsang Chun-Wah said aid would be given to foster talent, in which expenditure for education would be $75 billion, accounting for 21.5 per cent of recurrent government expenditure, which is an increase of 70 percent over ten years.   More subsidy would be provided to future leaders in Finance Internship Programme, to increase this internship vacant spots to 40 this year.   The Scheme for Cross-boundary Study Tour for Post-secondary Financial Talents, which allows Hong Kong students to understand the dynamics of the mainland financial market, would receive subsidies for 30 students to join the scheme.   The ASEAN Internship scheme launched in 2014 would be extended to cover the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Hang Seng Management College, increasing the number of participating institutions to 11.   In order to enrich IT programme in secondary schools, a steering committee including IBM, Google, Microsoft and Huawei would be set up to coordinate and promote such IT development. More internships and activities would be organised to nurture IT professionals.   He said that there would be an increase in monthly allowances of Internship Programme under ITF, and would be extended to cover incubatees and SME tenants of the Cyberport and Science Park.   Start-ups would be funded by the Innovation and Technology Venture fund, to encourage fresh blood into the field.   To encourage continuing education, Mr. Tsang said starting from the next academic year, a pilot scheme to provide tuition fee subsidy would be implemented, to subsidize three cohorts of students admitted to designated professional part-time programmes offered by the Vocational Training Council, covering construction, engineering and technology programmes. The expenditure would amount to $200 million which would benefit 5600 people.   He also said that $420 million had been …