The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui said the SAR's debt is still "at a very manageable level", and that the government has maintained close contact with global credit rating agencies relating to its financial position.

Hui's remarks came after Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced in his budget that the government plans to issue about HK$150 billion to HK$195 billion worth of bonds annually over the next five years to support infrastructure projects such as the Northern Metropolis.

"In fact, we have long been in close contact with some relevant rating agencies and we have very regular communications, so that we'll ensure they know about the specific [financial] situation of Hong Kong, our bond issuance plans, as well as the reasoning on how we manage our finances," Hui said in a press conference.

"We're actually maintaining our debts at a very manageable level right now. As you can see, compared with some other economies, the share of our bond issuance to our overall gross domestic product is less than 17 percent. This is actually very manageable level compared with the international level."

Separately, the financial services and treasury chief noted that authorities hope to improve the city's financial markets by conducting reforms of the stock trading and company listing mechanisms.

Measures include the gradual introduction of a new function by the end of the year to enable most stock transactions to settle one business day after the trade date, in what's called the "T+1" settlement cycle.

Hui said that the new settlement cycle will help improve the quality of the city's stock trading, as the current "T+2" settlement cycle is lagging behind other international peers, such as the US, Canada, and Mexico.

"It's a global trend, really, in terms of increasing capital deployment efficiency, and allow capital to be returned to the investors sooner, so that they can utilise it further," he said.

Other reform measures include the establishment of a "technology enterprises channel" by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing to help specialist technology and biotechnology companies, especially those listed on the mainland, seek listings in Hong Kong.

Hui said that the new channel will provide "tailor-made" assistance and guidance for those firms to prepare better before they submit their IPO applications.