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Budget Address 2021: No cash handout amid recession; $5,000 e-vouchers for eligible residents
- 2021-02-24
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: TUNG Yi Wun、Bowie TseEdited by: Sara Cheng
- 2021-02-24
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced in his budget speech Wednesday there will be no cash handout for this financial year. But electronic vouchers of HK$5,000 will be issued in instalments to each Hong Kong permanent resident and new arrival aged 18 or above to encourage local consumption. The measure, which involves about HK$36 billion, is expected to benefit more than 7.2 million people, Mr Chan said. The government has not said yet where the vouchers can be spent or how they will be given out. “The HK$5,000 e-voucher cannot tackle the current situation and provides limited support to citizens who have been struggling throughout the pandemic,” said Owan Li, Tai Kok Tsui North district councilor. The numbers have been grim. Under the global sweep of the coronavirus, Hong Kong’s economy has shrunk by 6.1% for two consecutive years, hitting the highest annual decline on record. The unemployment rate surged to 7% in the fourth quarter of 2020, reaching a 17-year high. Tourism-related sectors are hard hit as they reached the highest jobless rate since SARS in 2003. Retail, accommodation and food services sectors have suffered a surge in the unemployment rate to 11.3%. Tourism sectors have frozen with extensive global travel restrictions, and the export travel service plummeted by 90.5% “I actually agree with the government decision to not launch another cash handout since it has not been effective,” said Angus Chan, an employee dismissed from the InterContinental Hotel during the pandemic and now works in the Rosewood Hotel. He has one to two no-pay leave days per week at the new job, and some of his shifts are cut, he said. As the world continues to restrict travel, the hospitality industry is uncertain about when it will recuperate from the pandemic. Small and medium enterprises are hoping the …
Budget Address 2021: Hong Kong sees 2021 positive GDP growth at 3.5% - 5.5%
- 2021-02-24
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: Zhu Zijin Cora 朱子槿、Zhou Yichen Gloria 周奕辰Edited by: Alison Leung
- 2021-02-24
Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his budget speech on Wednesday that the city’s economy is expected to return to positive growth this year after experiencing two consecutive years of recession. Hong Kong's economy will face significant challenges in the first half amid COVID-19 while the economy is expected to recover in the second half on a rebound in the global economy, Chan said. He forecasts the economy to grow by 3.5-5.5% in real-term this year on back of the stimulus effect of the fiscal measures. But Chan also said, "The progress of economic recovery will hinge on the development of the epidemic." From 2022 to 2025, he expected the city's economy will grow by an average of 3.3% per annum in real terms, with the underlying inflation rate forecasted to average 2%. The Financial Secretary expected the government to post a budget deficit of HK$101.6 billion in 2021/22, accounting for 3.6% of GDP due to the relief measures and the continued increase in recurrent expenditure. The government also announced several one-off measures including cutting personal salaries tax and personal assessment tax by 100% with a ceiling of HK$10,000. Enterprises will also be eligible for 100% reduced profits tax with a limit of HK$10,000. Unemployed citizens can apply for a government-backed personal loan capped at HK$80,000 at an interest of 1% per year, said Chan. In addition, to stimulate domestic consumption, every Hong Kong permanent resident and new arrivals aged 18 or above will receive HK$5,000 electronic consumption vouchers, which will involve about 7.2 million people with a total of HK$36 billion.
LIVE: Hong Kong Budget Address 2021-22
- 2021-02-24
- The Young Reporter
- By: Shameel Ibrahim、Jasmine TseEdited by: Simran Vaswani
- 2021-02-24
Introduction This year's Budget Address comes after the city suffered an economic shrinkage of 6.1% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po is expected to forecast an economic growth from 3.5% to 5.5%. Mr Chan will deliver the Budget Address today (Wednesday) at 11am. His speech will include supporting enterprises and employment, reviving the economy, focusing on land and housing among other things. 12:53pm This concludes the live coverage of Hong Kong Budget Address 2021. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage on our website and social media platforms. 12:52pm The govt’s revised estimate on its revenue is $543.5 billion, lower than the estimates by 5.1% or $29 billion, mainly due to the lower land premium. #BudgetAddress2021 @hkbutyr — Shameel Ibrahim (@shameel_ibrahim) February 24, 2021 HK govt revenue for 2020-21 was lower than estimated (by $29 billion) while govt expenditure was higher than estimated (by $89.3 billion) @hkbutyr #budgetaddress2021 — Jasmine Tse (@jasmineytse) February 24, 2021 12:48pm The govt will not revise rates of profits tax and salaries tax, two of the major sources of revenue for the govt, due to financial woes by the public as well as businesses. #BudgetAddress2021@hkbutyr — Shameel Ibrahim (@shameel_ibrahim) February 24, 2021 12:46pm “This is not the time to introduce new taxes,” said Financial Secretary Chan @hkbutyr #budgetaddress2021 — Jasmine Tse (@jasmineytse) February 24, 2021 12:42pm Govt spending on livelihood, policy areas of education, social welfare and health care will not be reduced, said Paul Chan.#BudgetAddress2021 @hkbutyr — Shameel Ibrahim (@shameel_ibrahim) February 24, 2021 12:38pm He added that the city will record a deficit for a number of years after achieving a surplus for 15 years. #BudgetAddress2021 @hkbutyr — Shameel Ibrahim (@shameel_ibrahim) February 24, 2021 “I expect that the fiscal deficit will be $101.6 billion, accounting for 3.6 per …
More than 60,000 sign up for Sinovac jabs
- 2021-02-23
- Health & Environment
- The Young Reporter
- By: POON Hiu LamEdited by: LAMA Sumnima Rani
- 2021-02-23
Online registration for Hong Kong’s first round of Covid vaccination began at midnight last night. But the waiting time exceeded 50 minutes soon after the start. By morning, the waiting time was still about 30 minutes. Some of those who tried to sign up complained that they encountered up to 521 errors on the website. Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Alfred Sit Wing-hang said in an interview on RTHK that the demand exceeded the capacity of the government’s registration system, but the glitch was fixed within an hour. By noon, at least 60,000 people had signed up. To register, the system will first ask for an identity card number. The first inoculation is available from 26 February, followed by a second jab 28 days later. Registrants can choose between five Community Vaccination Centres and 18 general out-patient clinics under the Hospital Authority. But by noon, most of the slots had been taken. The earliest available slots are not till the end of next week. Five priority groups can make appointments online to get the vaccine. They include healthcare staff, persons aged 60 years or above, staff of residential care homes, essential public service workers, and personnel involved in cross border transportation. Reservations can be made at www.covidvaccine.gov.hk.Elderly people may bring up to two carers to receive the vaccine at the same time. Only the Sinovac vaccine will be available for the first round. Private clinics participating in the inoculation programme are expected to start providing the jabs by mid-March. On Feb 22 Monday, Hong Kong‘s leader Carrie Lam was the first person to receive China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in a bid to improve public confidence in the mainland-developed vaccine. The Executive Council on Tuesday passed that starting from Wednesday, social gathering restrictions will be relaxed to allow up to four …
Peaceful protests and strike sweep Myanmar despite deadly police violence
- 2021-02-23
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Sara ChengEdited by: Jasmine Tse
- 2021-02-23
Protesters across Myanmar staged one of its largest anti-coup protests on Monday since the military overthrew democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi's government and arrested members of the National League for Democracy three weeks ago. In Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city where two protesters were shot dead on Saturday, hundreds of thousands rallied peacefully, among them medical workers, lawyers, engineers, monks and grocery shop keepers, said Aung San Thein, 22, a Mandalay protester in a phone interview. Mr Thein went into exile with his family as a child due to political prosecution. He returned home after the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the 2015 election. "We’re not taking any violent action,” Mr Thein said. Demonstrators gathered in front of the central railroad station, passed boiled eggs and snacks to one another and listened to speeches, he said, adding all the shops he saw were closed. "Protesters at the front shouted: ‘What do we want,’ and the crowd behind chanted: ‘We want democracy," he said. "Everything is in order. There is no chaos in the country that [the military] has to declare a national emergency. The only chaos that we are having right now is because of the military," Mr Thein said. "That's what we want to show." A one-year state of emergency has been imposed on Feb. 1 after the coup, during which the military chief Min Aung Hlaing will remain in power. The strike defied the junta’s warning on Sunday that protesters, who they blamed for “inciting emotional teenagers and youths,” could "suffer a loss of life." Three protesters have been killed by live bullets during clashes with police, including a 16-year-old boy and Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, a 20-year-old who was shot in the head on Feb. 9 in the capital Nay Pyi Taw and …
A third of pupils back in classes after schools agree to COVID rules
- 2021-02-22
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: LAM Tsz YauEdited by: Editor
- 2021-02-22
Students from about 2000 schools can now resume half-day classes while schools can have a full half-day resumption if all members of staff have the COVID-19 test every 2 weeks. But The Professional Teachers Union doubts if the frequent testing is needed for teachers.
Mosques in the city reopen following relaxation of Covid-19 social distancing measures
- 2021-02-20
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Shameel IbrahimEdited by: Simran Vaswani
- 2021-02-20
Hong Kong’s mosques opened on Feb 19 for prayers after being shut for almost three months. Members of the Muslim community flocked to the mosque following the announcement from the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong - the official body representing the city's Muslims. All five official mosques are open to conduct prayers with social distancing measures in place. The city's mosques have been closed since December intermittently every two weeks which were put in place to combat the fourth coronavirus wave. “It was a sense of relief, a sense of joy,” said Adeel Malik, chairman of the Muslim Council of Hong Kong. He added that many Muslims were longing for the mosques to open, but also noted that the government implemented strict measures for the larger good of the community. The opening of the mosques coincided with the weekly Friday prayers, which is an important day of the week for the Islamic faith. Religious sermons are held during Fridays on issues in both the Muslim and wider communities in Hong Kong. One of the weekly sermon topics were "Lessons from Lockdown", where Mufti Muhammad Arshad, the chief Imam of the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre urged the community to unite against the pandemic regardless of race or religion. Muslims came to the city as sailors in 1829, working for the British-owned Jardine Matheson, a shipping company. By the 1850s, the growing Muslim community led to the formation of the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund, which became the official representative body for Muslims in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong strives to achieve carbon neutrality goal, long-term decarbonisation strategy expected mid-2021
- 2021-02-19
- Business
- The Young Reporter
- By: Yoyo Kwok Chiu TungEdited by: Zhu Zijin Cora 朱子槿
- 2021-02-19
The 2021 Budget Plan will be released next Wednesday in which global climate change is expected to be a topic in concern while the Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has said that a long-term decarbonisation strategy, including the promotion of using electric vehicles, will be announced in the middle of this year. The Financial Secretary said in his blog on Feb. 7 that the government will promote the use of electric vehicles by creating more EV charging stations and phase out existing high-emission Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles before 2027. The government would strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in the 2020 Policy Address. However, the development of electric vehicles in Hong Kong is still slow, said Wong Chun-sing, 32, who would like to buy an electric vehicle but stopped by government measures. “The electric vehicles charging stations are not enough, I wanted to buy an electric car but I think it is hard to charge electric cars in Hong Kong,” said Mr Wong. When compared with Singapore, Hong Kong is still lagging behind in terms of green infrastructures. Singapore announced on Tuesday in its budget that it will create 60,000 EV charging points before 2030, or more than 30 times of what they have now. "I think the development progress of Hong Kong is way behind Singapore,” Mr Wong said. As of December 2020, Hong Kong had 3,351 electric vehicles charging points, according to data provided by the Environmental Protection Department. Hong Kong also released certain policies to promote green technology for reducing air pollution by vehicles and ferries in last year’s budget. The government has earmarked HK$80 million for launching electric public light buses and HK$2 billion to subsidise the installation of EV charging stations for residential buildings and to …
Ma On Shan historical iron mine landmarks to disappear under rezoning plan
- 2021-02-18
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG YichunEdited by: SHI Ruoshui
- 2021-02-18
Wong Mei-fong, 55, still remembers her childhood summers in Pun Shan, a small village in the New Territories in Ma On Shan: catching shrimp in the rivers of the backyard garden, playing with mud with her neighbors who also helped them to renovate their house and playing hide-and-seek behind the old tree of the village temple. These places will only be retained in memories if the amendment to the Ma On Shan Outline Zoning Plan passes. The Wong family represents three generations of villagers born and raised in this former iron ore mining village. Now, Pun Shan is marked for redevelopment in the amendment to Ma On Shan Outline Zoning Plan, originally approved in 2016 to develop 814 hectares of land. The new proposal will add 9.67 hectares from seven green belt lands, the size of approximately 27 football fields, and will cut around 3,560 trees, according to the villagers. The village land will be developed into a private estate and government, institution and community lands. A group of villagers are actively protesting the amendment, working with district councillors and local green NGOs and setting up social media accounts to raise awareness. Villagers have held around 10 demonstrations to raise awareness of their plight. “My parents don’t have much energy to protest and some of the elderlies are not familiar with social media, so we as the younger generation, take up this job to reach out to the public and attract more people to take part in preserving Pun Shan Village,” said Wong Yuk-hong, 29, the son of Ms Wong and the organizer of the rezoning plan protest. As one of the oldest mining villages in Ma On Shan, Pun Shan village witnessed the mining industry from its beginnings in 1906 to prosperity and finally to its closure in 1976. …
Privacy concerns drive people away from evening dine-in
- 2021-02-18
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Zhu Zijin Cora 朱子槿Edited by: LAM Tsz Yau
- 2021-02-18
Despite relaxed social distancing rules and resumed dinner service, some Hongkongers still won’t eat out over the fear of personal data collected by the authority as the government requires all diners to record their detailed information for potential virus tracing. Eateries can resume dine-in service until 10pm with a maximum four people per table from Thursday, as long as they fulfill prerequisites, including staff getting Covid-19 tests every two weeks and diners recording personal information by scanning a QR code through the official “Leave Home Safe” app or by other means. The government’s controversial contact-tracing app has raised public concerns over privacy issues and abuse of data, as it will access user phone storage. Despite some online calls for boycotting the app, as of Thursday, the app download has surged to over 1 million since its launch in mid-November and seized the top position in the App Store. “I see no reason for customers leaving personal information when eating out,” said restaurant operator Ryan Lo Tsz-yeung. “Our restaurants also have no right to ask for diners’ information.” Health officials have said on separate occasions that the virus-exposure app will only let the government know “who was present at the venues at a specific time” for potential tracing, while the encrypted data will only be stored in user phones for 31 days. Hong Kong Baptist University’s “BU-Trace,” launched last October and led by Xu Jianliang, Associate Head of the Department of Computer Science, is an alternative to the official app, Prof Xu said. “People can use other apps to check whether their information has been transferred to servers if they are skeptical of the government,” Prof Xu said. Prof Xu also said the government could make their app open source, meaning publishing the software code for people to inspect the operating …