The 2022-23 Budget

1 THE 2022-23 Budget . Speech by the Financial Secretary, the Hon Paul MP Chan moving the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill 2022. Wednesday, 23 February 2022. Contents Paragraphs Introduction 2-5. Economic Situation in 2021 6-15. Economic Outlook for 2022 and 16-22. Medium-term Outlook Fighting the Virus Together 23-25. Stepping up Anti-epidemic Efforts 26-27. Relieving People's Hardship 28-32. Supporting Enterprises 33-37. Job Creation 38. Issuing Consumption Vouchers 39-41. Enhancing Economic Resilience and 42. Enriching Industrial Development People-centric Development 43-44. A New Starting Point in History 45-46. Integrate into the National Development 47.

2 Seeking Progress While Maintaining 48. Stability Paragraphs Innovation and Technology as well as 49-51. Digital Economy Innovation and Technology Development 52. Support Start-ups and Technology 53-58. Investments Promote Life and Health Scientific Research 59-61. Promote Research and Development 62. Technology Application 63. Strengthen the Intellectual Property Regime 64-65. International Financial Centre 66-68. Securities and Bond Markets 69-77. Offshore Renminbi Business Hub 78-80. Deepen Mutual Access with the Mainland 81. Development of Family Office Business 82. Green and Sustainable Finance 83-85. Infrastructure Financing Securitisation 86.

3 Financial Technology 87-88. Commercial Data Interchange 89. GBA Investment Fund 90. Arts, Culture and Tourism 91. Paragraphs hong kong Performing Arts Market 92-93. Arts Technology 94-96. Development of Tourism Industry 97-100. Aviation and Maritime Sectors 101. International Air Cargo 102. Maritime and Port Sector 103. Agriculture and Fisheries 104-105. Stepping up Investment Promotion 106-107. Attract Investment from the Mainland and 108-109. Overseas Global Financial Leaders' Investment 110. Summit Trade Development 111. hong kong 's External Trade 112-113. Trade Single Window 114. Trade Promotion 115. Convention and Exhibition 116.

4 Rental Enforcement Moratorium 117. Support Scheme for Pursuing Development 118. in the Mainland Paragraphs Building Capacity 119. Northern Metropolis and Lantau 120-123. Tomorrow Transport Infrastructure 124-125. Talent and Labour Force 126-127. Financial Services 128-130. Innovation and Technology 131-132. Healthcare 133-135. Arts and Culture 136-137. Construction Industry 138-139. Quality Migrant Admission Scheme 140. Vocational and Professional Education and 141-142. Training Encourage Continuing Education 143. Building a Liveable City Land Supply 144-147. Streamline Statutory Procedures 148. Develop Multi-storey Industrial Buildings 149.

5 Promote the Adoption of Innovation and 150-151. Technology in the Construction Industry Paragraphs Further Encourage the Adoption of Modular 152. Integrated Construction Method Housing Supply 153-155. Mortgage Insurance Programme 156. Building a Green City 157. Green Tech Fund 158. Charging Facilities for Electric Vehicles 159-160. Enhance the Capability of the Low-lying 161. Areas to Withstand Threats Quality Living 162. Enhance Harbourfront 163. Sports Development 164-165. Cultural Facilities 166. Community Arts Scheme 167. Heritage Conservation 168-169. Caring and Inclusion 170-174. Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project 175. Public Finance Financial Position of the Current-term 176-177.

6 Government: Retrospect and Prospect Paragraphs Striving to Maintain Healthy Public 178-179. Finances Increasing Revenue 180-184. Rating System 185-186. New International Tax Standards 187-188. Revised Estimates for 2021-22 189-192. Estimates for 2022-23 193-197. Medium Range Forecast 198-203. Concluding Remarks 204-210. This speech, together with the supplement and appendices relating to the 2022-23 Budget , is available at Introduction Mr President, Honourable Members and fellow citizens, I move that the Appropriation Bill 2022 be read a second time. Introduction 2. The COVID-19 pandemic has plagued the entire world for two years, taking a heavy toll on economic activities and people's way of life.

7 Since the middle of last year, the epidemic situation in hong kong had been brought under control, with economic activities and daily life gradually getting back to normal. Nevertheless, with the emergence of a virus variant in the past month or so, the epidemic situation in hong kong has taken a drastic turn for the worse. The rapid spread of the virus and its profound impact have dealt a heavy blow to many people, disrupting both their life and work, and seriously affected the operations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thus undermining confidence in the future. A gloomy atmosphere enveloped the hong kong community. 3.

8 Taking prompt action to stabilise the epidemic situation is crucial for safeguarding the health and lives of our people. It is also the key to maintaining people's confidence and stabilising our economy. The care and guidance of the Central Government, together with the selfless support from the relevant departments and municipal governments, have bolstered the solidarity, confidence and indomitable spirit of the hong kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Government and all sectors of the community. By making a concerted effort to fight the epidemic on all fronts and at full speed, we will surely win this battle against the virus.

9 We will deploy all available resources and take all necessary measures to fully support the anti- epidemic work. The resources allocated for this cause in this Budget alone involve more than $54 billion. 1. Introduction 4. At this critical time, we need to direct more resources to relieve people's hardship and provide SMEs with some breathing space so as to stabilise the economy and maintain public confidence. This is also what the general public expect of the Government. With this in mind, this year's Budget will continue to adopt an expansionary fiscal policy with initiatives mainly focusing on four areas: (a) supporting an all-out effort to win the fight against the epidemic.

10 (b) relieving the hardship of our people and SMEs;. (c) rendering support to the struggling economy and fostering post-epidemic economic revival; and (d) investing for the future by planning ahead for the medium- and long-term development of our economy. 5. It is estimated that the counter-cyclical measures (costing a total of over $170 billion) mentioned in the Budget , together with the spending in infrastructure projects and other items, will have a fiscal stimulus effect of boosting the economy by around three percentage points. I will elaborate the details afterwards. 2. Economic Situation in 2021. Economic Situation in 2021. 6.