The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr Paul Chan, unveiled his 2024-25 Budget on 28 February 2024 in the theme of "Advance with Confidence. Seize Opportunities. Strive for High-quality Development."  Looking back in 2023, Hong Kong economy returned to normalcy in the aftermath of the pandemic and registered a 3.2% growth.  Private consumption expenditure increased 7.3% supported by the Government's Consumption Voucher Scheme.  Visitor arrivals bounced back sharply, to about 34 million last year.  The labour market continued to improve with the unemployment rate dropping to 2.9% in Q4 2023.  Inflation remained moderate in overall terms with 1.7%.  For 2024, the economy is expected to grow in a range of 2.5 to 3.5%.
         To further support the businesses for recovery, to consolidate Hong Kong's position as a premier destination for business and tourism and to guide industries towards high-quality development, the 2024-25 Budget has announced various measures while stating that a comprehensive fiscal consolidation programme would be implemented to achieve fiscal balance gradually and maintain fiscal reserves at a prudent level.
        Here are some highlights of the 2024-25 Budget which could bring opportunities to overseas businesses in various sectors.

Attracting enterprises, capital and talent

• Continue to attract enterprises, capital and talent on all fronts where more than 40 strategic enterprises have set up or expanded their businesses in Hong Kong, or will do so, with a total investment of over HKD40 billion and creating 13,000 jobs.
• Organise "Roundtable for International Sovereign Wealth Funds" and "Summit on Start-up Investment and Development Hong Kong".
• Review the arrangements of the Top Talent Pass Scheme in mid-2024 and host a "Global Talent Summit".

Hosting more mega events and thematic annual conferences

• Allocate over HKD1.09 billion to strengthen tourism development and organise events.  Highlights include monthly pyrotechnic and drone shows and revamping "A Symphony of Lights" held at the Victoria Harbour, as well as promoting immersive and in-depth tourism.  
• Launch a new Hong Kong tourism brand.
• Earmark HKD100 million to boost mega-event promotions over next 3 years.

Steering to high-quality development

Green economy

• Extend the Green and Sustainable Finance Grant Scheme to 2027.
• Launch a Green and Sustainable Fintech Proof of Concept Subsidy Scheme in the first half of 2024.
• Co-host a Joint Climate Finance Conference in Hong Kong with Dubai.
• Allocate HKD65 million to concessionary measures for Hong Kong-registered ships that have attained a high rating under international standards of decarbonisation.
• Promote the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel in Hong Kong.

Innovation and Technology

• AI Supercomputing Centre: First phase facility to operate in 2024 earliest.  Allocate HKD3 billion to support local universities, R&D institutes and enterprises to leverage its computing power, etc.
• HKD6 billion for universities to set up life and health technology research institutes.
• Set up the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute in Hetao Shenzhen Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone in 2024.
• Earmark HKD2 billion to support presence of InnoHK research clusters in Hetao.
• Earmark HKD3 billion to launch a Frontier Technology Research Infrastructure Support Scheme.

Financial Markets

• Issue HKD70 billion worth of retail bonds.
• Promote the introduction of block trading and RMB counters under Southbound Stock Connect, and expansion of the mutual access regime to Real Estate Investment Trusts.
• Launch phase 1 of Project mBridge to settle cross-boundary transactions for corporates.
• Enhance preferential tax regimes for family office funds.

Legal and Dispute Resolution Services

• Host the headquarters of the "International Organization for Mediation" in Hong Kong.
• Continue to promote Hong Kong's legal and dispute resolution services in the Mainland, the Middle East and ASEAN member states.
• Work on the establishment of a Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy.

International cultural exchange

• Inject HKD1.4 billion into the Film Development Fund.
• Inject HKD2.9 billion into CreateSmart Initiative.
• Organise Hong Kong Fashion Design Week annually.
• Organise the first Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo in October 2024.

Full details of the 2024-25 Budget is available at: https://www.budget.gov.hk/2024/eng/index.html



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