Hong Kong unveils US$22b budget for virus-plagued economy
People queue up for COVID-19 tests in pouring rain in Hong Kong on February 22.
Hong Kong's finance chief on Wednesday unveiled a costly HK$170 billion (US$21.79 billion) budget, including tax breaks and consumer spending vouchers, as the city reels under its worst coronavirus outbreak to date.
The surge has prompted the reimposition of curbs that have shuttered many businesses, closed schools, and saw multiple rounds of mass testing.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan released the taps in his 2022/23 budget speech with a series of handouts.
"Our economy and people's livelihoods have been under immense pressure in recent months," he told legislators in a speech that was live streamed because of the pandemic.
"Economic performance in the first quarter is not optimistic."
Among the measures are HK$10,000 electronic spending vouchers for some 6.6 million people, double the amount offered last year.
As with previous rounds, the vouchers will not be available to foreign domestic workers or non-permanent residents.
The budget also included salary tax reductions, electricity bill subsidies and the continuation of a loan scheme for small and medium businesses.
Some 54,000 cases have been recorded in the current wave compared with just 12,000 for the two years before, and health experts fear the real number is far higher because of a backlog.
City leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday admitted that her administration was unable to deal with the surge and had called for help from the mainland, which will build a series of temporary hospital wards and isolation units.
All 7.4 million residents will have to undergo three rounds of compulsory testing in March.
