Hong Kong should set a poverty-eradication goal
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po made his maiden budget address at the Legislative Council on Feb 22; the 2017-18 Budget was quite similar to its predecessors but the new financial secretary envisioned a more forward-looking approach on economic development, a better quality of life for Hong Kong people and more education opportunities to help young people gain higher-paying jobs that matched their personal interests.
When he was development secretary, Chan and Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung closely cooperated to prepare a 10-year roll forward Long Term Housing Strategy that would supply about 500,000 units. This included 200,000 public housing rental units and 90,000 subsidized sale flats, with the balance private units. Public housing topped Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s agenda of livelihood issues which he wanted to resolve for Hong Kong people.
The financial secretary’s earmarking of HK$30 billion of the HK$92 billion budget surplus to strengthen elderly services and rehabilitation services, and for people with disabilities, was very much needed. Thousands of private residential elderly care centers provide below-par service; their standard can only be improved with financial assistance from government.
Reserving HK$20 billion to provide better community and sports facilities could not have been timelier. The launching of 26 projects in the coming five years to develop new or improve existing sports or recreation facilities has been long overdue.
An allocation from the budget surplus of HK$10 billion to expedite information technology development in Hong Kong, particularly in the financial services sector, is also welcome.
The HK$1 billion allocated from the budget surplus for youth development includes HK$700 million for the Education Bureau to develop vocational and professional education and training (VPET) where there is a huge demand for expansion.
Since last year, the Education Bureau and the Vocational Training Council (VTC) have cooperated in an effort to convince parents and students that VPET education was a very worthwhile alternative to university-type education in view of attractive job prospects for its graduates. It is said that VTC graduates have an easier time securing jobs that match their training than university graduates.
Chief Executive election candidate Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor promised in her manifesto that if elected she would “immediately increase recurrent expenditure on education by HK$5 billion a year”. If Lam is elected, I hope she would allocate some of that for further VPET expansion where the need is great.
Besides public housing, Leung was concerned about poverty alleviation when he became CE in 2012. It was in fact a priority in his election manifesto. Consequently, in December 2012 the government reinstated the Commission on Poverty which was chaired by then chief secretary for administration Lam, who has been replaced by Matthew Cheung Kin-chung.
In Hong Kong the concept of “relative poverty” is adopted which is set at 50 percent of the median monthly household income before policy intervention — ie before taxation and welfare transfers. According to the poverty line analysis, after recurrent cash intervention (ie after taking into account recurrent cash benefits such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), Disability Allowance, School Textbook Assistance, etc) Hong Kong’s poor population stood at 970,000 in 2015.
Hong Kong faces a challenging situation regarding the non-CSSA working poor families, estimated at 130,000 households (about 450,000 people), together with the many young people who are worried they will end up in the inter-generational poverty trap.
Lam promised in her election manifesto that if elected CE she will con-
Should Lam become our city’s next CE on July 1, it is hoped that during her five-year term she will give top priority to eliminating poverty in Hong Kong — one of the most-developed and richest cities in the world.
tinue to improve the system as well as use the Community Care Fund (CCF) to bridge the gap in the system. Her pragmatic and flexible problem-solving approach should be applauded.
Should Lam become our city’s next CE on July 1, it is hoped that during her five-year term she will give top priority to eliminating poverty in Hong Kong — one of the most-developed and richest cities in the world.
From the so far unallocated balance of HK$31 billion in this year’s budget surplus, the financial secretary could reserve HK$5 billion for the CCF to accelerate poverty reduction in Hong Kong.
About 40 million people on the mainland still live below the poverty line and the central government has set 2020 as the target year to eradicate poverty so the country could achieve the goal of being a moderately prosperous country.
President Xi Jinping has urged more intensified and precise poverty relief efforts to realize the goal of pulling the entire country out of poverty before 2021. The least we can do is set a comparable target considering how much wealthier Hong Kong people are than their mainland compatriots on average.