Commerce chief Algernon Yau on Wednesday stressed that merging the city's public broadcaster and the government's public relations office might not be the most effective way to cut expenditure, saying the two bodies do not overlap in their functions.

In response to questions from lawmaker Junius Ho on the feasibility of combining RTHK and the Information Services Department (ISD), the secretary for commerce and economic development said a merger might be "counterproductive" when it comes to the administration's overall public relations work.

"Merging the two departments with distinct functions may not be the most effective way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure in terms of overall operations," he told the legislature.

"The public may confuse the role of RTHK, as a public service broadcaster, with that of the ISD, as the government promoter. This may be counterproductive to the government's overall public relations works, which is not advisable."

New People's Party lawmaker Regina Ip said the two departments should increase the use of artificial intelligence to reduce manpower, suggesting there could be redundancy given her past interviews with the public broadcaster.

Yau said in response that RTHK has been using artificial intelligence to produce its programmes to cut spending.

Another lawmaker, Carmen Kan, urged RTHK to better promote the administration's policies, to which the commerce minister said the public broadcaster is introducing a brand new show on top of existing current affairs programmes.