Labour and welfare minister Chris Sun on Wednesday said the government would help NGOs save costs by streamlining administrative procedures amid funding cuts due to the fiscal deficit.

Sun said the government would help shoulder a four percent reduction for 121 small-and-medium sized NGOs, meaning they would only face a three percent funding cut by the 2027-28 financial year.

However, for the 58 large NGOs receiving over HK$50 million in government funding annually, Sun said they would have to bear the seven percent cuts on their own.

Speaking after an RTHK radio programme on Wednesday, Sun said the government would give larger NGOs more time to hold onto their financial reserves, so they could make better use of their resources through these “difficult years”.

He also said the government would give these NGOs more flexibility, and help them save costs by streamlining procedures such as reporting on how they used their funds.

“I'm pretty confident after the meeting on Monday that we are more or less on the same page, so we are working together while we're facing a budget cut," Sun said.

"But at the same time, because of the more flexible use of reserves and also the efforts we are making to provide more room for them to make better use of their resources, we should be able to deal with it together,” he added.