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Following is the speech by the Secretary for the Treasury, Miss Denise Yue, in moving the second reading of the Supplementary Appropriation (2000-2001) Bill 2001 in the Legislative Council today (June 20):

President,

I move that the Supplementary Appropriation (2000-2001) Bill 2001 be read the second time.

Section 9 of the Public Finance Ordinance states that "If at the close of account for any financial year it is found that expenditure charged to any head is in excess of the sum appropriated for that head by an Appropriation Ordinance, the excess shall be included in a Supplementary Appropriation Bill which shall be introduced into the Legislative Council as soon as practicable after the close of the financial year to which the excess expenditure relates".

The expenditure accounts for the financial year 2000-2001 have been finalised by the Director of Accounting Services. The expenditure charged to 19 heads out of a total of 93 heads is in excess of the sum originally appropriated for those heads in the Appropriation Ordinance 2000. In each head, the excess expenditure reflects supplementary provision approved by the Finance Committee or under powers delegated by it. The Supplementary Appropriation (2000-2001) Bill 2001 seeks final legislative authority for the amount of supplementary provision approved during the year in respect of particular heads of expenditure by the Finance Committee or under powers delegated by it.

The total supplementary appropriation required in respect of the 19 heads of expenditure is $1,180 million. This excess is largely attributable to payments for which no provision was made in the original estimates, including -

(i) recurrent grant of $522 million to the University Grants Committee-funded institutions;

(ii) a one-off grant of $266 million to encourage diesel taxi owners to replace their vehicles with liquefied petroleum gas vehicles; and

(iii) a grant of $200 million to the Language Fund.

Despite these exceptional un-budgeted payments, total expenditure from the General Revenue Account was within the amount originally included in the Appropriation Ordinance 2000 as a result of savings in various heads of expenditure and the provision made for additional commitments in the original estimates for the year.

President, I hope Members will support the Supplementary Appropriation (2000-2001) Bill 2001. Thank you.

End/Wednesday, June 20, 2001

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