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Following is the transcript of a stand up media session given by the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, after attending the RTHK's "Financial Secretary Budget Phone-in" programme today (Thursday):

Financial Secretary: I am grateful for the opportunity to talk to members of the public so directly through the media on what they feel about the Budget I presented yesterday. I feel that there was certain relief that there were no tax measures. There were also some comments on the way in which we have been handling welfare spending, and particularly the spending on the disabled. I certainly will take those comments onboard but I do believe that we have to strike a balance in spending level, making sure that every sector of the community will be well looked after. I would treasure these conversation, I think it's a very good forum in which I were able to enlist people's views in the preparation of the Budget, in fact, in formulating government policies.

Reporter: Mr Tsang, you have done your part. You haven't put up anything on the taxes. What is your message to the private sector? Will that include telling them not to put up wages?

Financial Secretary: Well, I think wages is a matter of market forces. If the economy is going to get well and improving as we forecast it would, I'm sure the employment market would get better and larger, and there will be improvement in wages. The downward pressure of wages will then come down. But again, Hong Kong is a competitive community. We have to compete not only among ourselves. We have to compete with other economies in the region. So, there would be a cost pressure on one hand, we have to keep cost down including wages, and on the other hand there would be demand for labour force and the demand for good quality labour in the market. So, this is the way in which the market will work.

Financial Secretary's transcript (Chinese Part)

End/Thursday, March 9, 2000

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