By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-03 13:29:41 | Updated at 2025-03-03 20:20:15
7 hours ago
Finance ministers from developed Western economies would “be happy” to have Hong Kong’s level of deficits and reserves, economic experts have said, stressing that the city remains robust financially while having more room for bond issuances.
The economists were speaking at a panel discussion on Monday at the Redefining Hong Kong Series 2025: Budget Edition forum, organised by the South China Morning Post.
“Hong Kong is in an astonishingly strong fiscal position, more than any other developed economy,” said deputy global research director Tom Holland of Gavekal Research.
“If you were a finance minister in another developed economy, anywhere in Europe, even the [United States], you would be very happy to have Hong Kong’s fiscal problems.”
Hong Kong marked its third consecutive annual deficit when finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po unveiled his latest budget last week. The city recorded a HK$87 billion shortfall for the 2024-25 financial year, after deficits of HK$101.6 billion the year before that and HK$122 billion in 2022-23. The city’s fiscal reserves will drop to HK$580.3 billion.
Chan said HK$150 billion to HK$195 billion worth of bonds would be issued in the next five years to fund public projects such as the Northern Metropolis.
