Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Saturday that the range of tax-relief measures being offered in the budget for the coming fiscal year created longer-term benefits for households when compared to one-off financial incentives to encourage childbirths.

The measures announced in the latest financial blueprint include a HK$10,000 increase in the child and additional child allowances to HK$140,000.

The married person's allowance will also rise from HK$264,000 to HK$290,000.

Chan set out the reasons for why the administration did not offer more measures to boost birth rate this time around in a television programme.

"We are talking about a long-term adjustment period of 10 to 20 years. I think it is more appropriate overall this way," he said.

"For example, with the adjustments to the tax allowances for a middle-class family – say, a married couple with two children – they can, assuming they are not living with their parents, save about HK$10,000 annually."

He said the external environment remained volatile and that the government would strengthen its resilience by continuing to develop industries and the economy.

The government is also dipping into the Exchange Fund for the first time in more than 40 years to support the development of infrastructure projects to transfer HK$150 billion to the Capital Works Reserve Fund.

Chan said the situation this time around was completely different from when part of the fund was utilised to tackle financial instability back in the 1980s.

The fund, he pointed out, still has over HK$4 trillion, which is sufficient to keep the city's finances stable and withstand any impact.



Edited by Thomas McAlinden