Financial results for ten months ended Jan 31, 2001

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The Government announced today (February 28) its financial results for the ten months ended January 31, 2001.

Expenditure for the period April 2000 to January 2001 amounted to $182.5 billion and revenue to $180.3 billion, resulting in a deficit of $2.2 billion.

There was a surplus of $28 billion in January. A Government spokesman said that the improvement was mainly due to the Salaries Tax and Profits Tax receipts during the month. An up-to-date assessment of the likely deficit for the current financial year will be provided by the Financial Secretary in his Budget Speech on March 7, 2001.

The fiscal reserves stood at $442.1 billion at January 31, 2001.

More detailed figures are shown in Tables 1 and 2.


TABLE 1.  CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNT



                                Year to date

                            Month ended    Apr 1, 2000 to

                            Jan 31, 2001   Jan 31, 2001

                            ------------   ---------------

                            HK$ million      HK$ million



Revenue                       47,771.2         180,305.2

Expenditure                  (19,766.0)       (182,502.1)

                            ------------     -------------

Surplus/(Deficit)             28,005.2          (2,196.9)

                            ------------     -------------

Financing

  Domestic

    Banking Sector (Note 1)  (27,253.5)          1,766.8

    Non-Bank Sector             (751.7)            430.1

  External                       --                --

                           -------------     -------------

Total                        (28,005.2)          2,196.9

                           -------------     -------------

Government Debt as at January 31, 2001 (Note 2): NIL

Debts Guaranteed by Government as at January 31, 2001 (Note 3): HK$4,708 million

Notes:

1. Includes transactions with the Exchange Fund and resident banks.

2. The Government is debt free.

3. Guarantees provided under the Special Finance Scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises.

TABLE 2.    FISCAL RESERVES



                                          Year to date

                            Month ended    Apr 1, 2000 to

                            Jan 31, 2001   Jan 31, 2001

                            ------------   ---------------

                             HK$ million    HK$ million



Fiscal Reserves at 

 start of period               414,052.0      444,254.1

Add: Consolidated

 Surplus/(Deficit)              28,005.2       (2,196.9)

                              -----------     ------------

Fiscal Reserves at

 end of period                 442,057.2      442,057.2

                              ===========     ===========

End/Wednesday, February 28, 2001

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