Policy address 2025: Hong Kong’s John Lee in big push on economic reforms Hong Kong’s leader has delivered a comprehensive policy blueprint pushing for further economic reforms by expediting key infrastructure projects and doubling down on the city’s competitive strengths, while also improving livelihoods, notably charting more paths to home ownership. In a wide-ranging speech that left no stone unturned, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu vowed to entice more high value-added industries and enterprises to the city by offering preferential policy packages. For the first time, he also floated the idea of settling government expenditure in renminbi. He cited the improvement of people’s livelihoods as the “ultimate objective” in his more accountable governance, promised to develop artificial intelligence as a core industry, and undertook to personally lead the fast-tracked development of the Northern Metropolis. And signalling responsiveness in light of a recent scandal, he announced a new no-nonsense accountability mechanism for senior civil servants. This year’s blueprint, titled “Deepening reforms for our people, leveraging our strengths for a brighter future”, was Lee’s second last, leaving him with just two years to deliver his pledges before his first term ends in 2027. As a key plank of his economic reform agenda, Lee will lead a committee to streamline administrative workflows and remove unnecessary barriers and restrictions in the development of the Northern Metropolis. He revealed that authorities would introduce dedicated legislation which, among other things, will empower the government to devise simplified statutory procedures. These could range from the setting up of statutory industry park companies and providing them with dedicated channels for funding, as well as managing the cross-boundary flow of people, capital, data and biological samples in designated areas. An insider said the new law would mean that certain funding for the project would no longer require the legislative’s prior approval. But Lee insisted that removing barriers in the Northern Metropolis was not to make it a “special administrative zone” within the city. Lee also sought to leverage the city’s unique edges to consolidate its status as an international financial centre. The stock market, he said, would be strengthened through moves to assist mainland technology enterprises in raising funds and encourage more overseas enterprises to seek secondary listings in the city. Mainland banks will also be encouraged to set up regional headquarters in the city. The government would establish a central clearing system for gold in the city and, for the first time, was considering using renminbi to settle government expenditure under “suitable circumstances” in Hong Kong, the world’s largest offshore yuan settlement hub. To turn the city into an international education hub, Lee said the government would accelerate construction of the Northern Metropolis University Town and raise the non-local undergraduate quota at public universities from 40 to 50 per cent of that of the local intake from the next academic year. On governance, Lee introduced a Heads of Department Accountability System to better hold underperforming senior civil servants accountable a month after a water procurement scandal unfolded. The city leader also sought to show his government was responsive to residents’ feedback, as he spelled out new measures to prevent abuse of a scheme allowing employers to import workers in certain fields. From Thursday onwards, Lee said, employers seeking to hire imported waiters and junior cooks must extend the local recruitment process from the current four weeks to six weeks and must also take part in on-site job fairs by the Labour Department once a week. To improve people’s livelihoods and boost their “sense of happiness and well-being”, Lee announced measures to increase the subsidised housing supply and strengthen the housing ladder to home ownership. In a commentary under the pen name of “Gang Ao Ping”, Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office hailed the policy address for demonstrating the enterprising spirit of Lee and his team in shouldering primary responsibility for the city’s governance. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3325914/policy-address-2025-hong-kongs-john-lee-big-push-economic-reforms (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post