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The Government announced today (April 29) its provisional financial results for the year ended March 31, 2000.
Expenditure for the year ended March 31, 2000 amounted to $223 billion and revenue to $232.9 billion, resulting in a surplus of $9.9 billion.
The fiscal reserves stood at $444.2 billion at March 31, 2000, an increase of $9.9 billion compared with the balance of $434.3 billion at March 31, 1999.
A Government spokesman said that the provisional surplus of $9.9 billion represented an improvement of $11.5 billion over the revised deficit of $1.6 billion as announced in the Financial Secretary's 2000-01 Budget Speech. Revenue was $3.6 billion better than expected, largely as a result of additional revenue from stamp duty on stock transactions, the higher receipts from betting duty and the land premium obtained from lease modifications during the first quarter in 2000.
Expenditure was $7.9 billion lower than forecast. This comprised lower than expected recurrent spending of $2.9 billion, representing the continuous efforts of Controlling Officers to economize the costs of delivering various public services; and lower capital spending of $5 billion arising largely from delays in some payments related to the acquisition of plants and equipments and the lower than expected loans and payments from a number of housing- and student-related loan schemes.
The spokesman added that all figures were provisional pending the final closing of the accounts but that experience showed that any changes to the provisional figures were unlikely to be significant.
More detailed figures are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
TABLE 1. PROVISIONAL ACCOUNTS(Note 1)
Month Ended Year ended
March 31, 2000 March 31, 2000
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HK$ million HK$ million
Revenue 52,506.1 232,978.6
Expenditure (22,293.4) (223,031.6)
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Surplus 30,212.7 9,947.0
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Financing
Domestic
Banking Sector(Note 2)(30,868.2) (11,450.3)
Non-Bank Sector 655.5 1,503.3
External -- --
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Total (30,212.7) (9,947.0)
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Government Debt as at March 31, 2000 (Note 3) : NIL
Debts Guaranteed by Government as at
March 31, 2000 (Note 4) : HK$4,927.1 million
Notes :
1. All figures are provisional pending the final closing of the annual accounts.
2. Includes transactions with the Exchange Fund and resident banks.
3. The Government is debt free.
4. Guarantees provided under the Special Finance Scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises.
TABLE 2. FISCAL RESERVES (PROVISIONAL)
Month Ended Year ended
March 31, 2000 March 31, 2000
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HK$ million HK$ million
Fiscal Reserves at
start of period 414,036.7 434,302.4
Add:
Consolidated Surplus 30,212.7 9,947.0
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Fiscal Reserves at
end of period 444,249.4 444,249.4
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End/Saturday, April 29, 2000
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