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The following is issued on behalf of the Executive Council Secretariat:
Following is the transcript of remarks by Executive Council members Mr Leung Chun-ying, Mr Cheng Yiu-tong and Mrs Laura Cha, on the 2005-2006 Budget at the Legislative Council Building this (March 16) afternoon (English portion).
Reporter: Mr Leung, can you tell me something about the Budget?
Mr Leung: In the following three areas the Financial Secretary has stated in his Budget Speech very detailed and clear views on the economy and public finance. Firstly, in a very detailed way, he explained how the Government has facilitated the continue growth of the economy. Secondly, he also explained to the community how we should consolidate the result of the restructuring of the economy. Thirdly, he mentioned in his Speech both the expenditure and revenue sides of the budget. In fact, we would be able to achieve the target of balancing expenditure and revenue and, hence, achieving the Basic Law's stipulation of having a balanced budget, a year before our target. Therefore, all the non-official members of the Executive Council fully support this Budget and recommend it to the community at large. I now ask my colleagues to express their views.
Reporter: Mrs Cha, can you repeat in English?
Mrs Cha: Hong Kong as an international financial centre, the asset management aspect has always been, I would not say it is under-developed, but it has not been emphasised as strongly as other aspects. For example, as the capital raising aspect. As we look forward, the asset management business will be very important for HK as an international financial centre. The abolishment of the estate duty will enable many of such assets to remain in HK or to attract future assets to come to Hong Kong for management purpose. It will greatly help the development of our asset management business.
Reporter: Can we just ask whether there should be more tax concession...
Mr Leung: Although we are approaching the original target -- we actually meet the original target of balancing the expenditure and revenue a year early -- we should also bear in mind the fact that we have a very narrow tax base, and the fact that the current revenue, instead of increasing, has been shrinking. There are warning signals to tell us clearly and strongly that we should not be complacent about the need to balance the recurrent expenditure and revenue. Therefore, any tax concessions, although in normal circumstances are all welcomed by residents of Hong Kong, need to be thought out very cautiously.
Reporter: (about term of office of the Chief Executive)
Mr Leung: The Government will take this matter very seriously and cautiously. Whatever we do, we need to satisfy the stipulations in the Basic Law and the Chief Executive Election Ordinance. The Government will process the necessary amendment to supplement the existing Chief Executive Election Ordinance to make sure the term of the new Chief Executive serving the remainder of the original term will be entirely compatible with the provision of both the Basic Law and the Ordinance.
Reporter:...seven or 12 years...
Mr Leung: We are not talking about seven or 12 years. We are talking about the remaining term before the expiration of the original term in 2007. This very clearly is the legislative intent of the Basic Law that has been expressed in the drafting process of the Basic Law back in 1988 to 1990. Any doubt in the Chief Executive Election Ordinance should be removed through amendments to the Ordinance.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Wednesday, March 16, 2005
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