Speed up innovation, create jobs key facets of next Hong Kong budget: Paul Chan Accelerating innovation and creating more jobs will be key goals of the next annual budget, Hong Kong’s finance chief has said, while pointing to positive investor sentiment after several companies recently bought or leased commercial properties in the city. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said in his weekly blog post on Sunday that public consultations for the next budget would start soon. “Key issues will include how to further expand the facets and areas of economic development, accelerate the nurturing and application of innovation and technology, speed up the optimisation of the industrial structure, create more quality employment positions and inject momentum into high-quality development,” he said. The finance chief added that he “looked forward” to more specific suggestions from the public. He noted that investor and commercial expectations remained positive, with the pace of investment expenditure accelerating. “In recent months, financial institutions and large e-commerce platforms have successively leased or purchased multiple floors of commercial space or even entire commercial buildings, strengthening their deployment in Hong Kong to explore mainland China and international business,” Chan said. In April, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) also acquired a significant amount of space at One Exchange Square in Central, including the top nine floors and the area near HKEX Connect Hall, in a HK$6.3 billion deal with Hongkong Land. Chan also said that focusing on technology and new industries was critical as Hong Kong entered the “AI+” era, where society demanded higher levels of product intelligence. He stressed that manufacturers must accelerate transformation to develop “new quality productive forces”, which he defined as having better quality and value that justified a premium price. Citing the recently opened 59th Brand and Products Expo at Victoria Park, which he visited on Saturday, Chan noted that many local exhibitors were already leaning into the trend, focusing on product innovation and smart technology application. He observed vendors launching creatively flavoured snacks and offering new smart home appliances that used sensory technology to automatically adjust their working modes. “These new products and new technologies are beneficial for stimulating consumer desire and boosting sales,” he said. The finance chief added that combining such innovation with the advantages of having products labelled as being designed and made in Hong Kong would create greater potential business opportunities. Chan added that the local economy had grown by 3.3 per cent year on year in the first three quarters, driven by double-digit growth in merchandise exports, improved local demand and stabilising retail and catering markets. Service exports also delivered strong results, largely due to the rebound in tourism, he noted. He cited official figures showing that the number of visitor arrivals had exceeded 45 million in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the total for 2024 and also representing a 12 per cent increase year on year. Non-mainland visitors accounted for more than 23 per cent of the figure, he said. Some economists told the Post that job creation should be a top budget focus, with Terence Chong Tai-leung, the executive director of the Lau Chor Tak Institute of Global Economics and Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, calling it “the most immediate and urgent priority for the government.” Hong Kong’s unemployment has risen steadily for most of this year. It climbed from 2.9 per cent in the three-month period from November last year to January to 3.9 per cent between July and September before easing slightly to 3.8 per cent from August to October, the first drop since mid-2023. To drive transformation, Ng suggested targeted tax incentives to attract capital and talent, cutting red tape and partnerships with mainland China for more uses of new technologies. On a macro level, he recommended cutbacks on spending unrelated to the economy and livelihoods to ensure better resource allocation amid a fiscal deficit. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3336370/speed-innovation-create-jobs-key-facets-next-hong-kong-budget-paul-chan (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post