Chief Executive Tung Paints a Gloomy Picture for Hong Kong's Economic Recovery
HONG KONG -- (Reuters) Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa offered little new welfare help to the territory's unemployed on
Wednesday, choosing instead to announce new funds for education and worker training.
In his second annual policy address, Tung said total recurrent spending on education will rise to nearly HK$44 billion ($5.7 billion) in
the 1999-2000 fiscal year, from the HK$42.99 billion budgeted for 1998-1999.
"To take Hong Kong forward in an increasingly competitive world, we must give education top priority," Tung said. "In 1999-2000,
education will continue to be the single biggest item of recurrent expenditure."
Among new initiatives for education, Tung said the government would allocate an additional HK$500 million in grants from 1999 to
2003 for public sector schools to help them draw up management programs to boost flexibility and improve their quality of
education.
In the coming year, the territory also has earmarked HK$630 million to boost the use of information technology in schools, including
improving student access to computers and employing some 250 new information technology coordinators to help public sector
schools expand their use of computers.
In the area of worker training, Tung said the Employees Retraining Board will receive a grant of HK$500 million to enable it to
expand its training capacity and improve the quality of its courses for the unemployed.
But Tung's speech included no new initiatives to provide immediate relief to Hong Kong's growing ranks of unemployed. The local
unemployment rate is now at a 15-year high of 5 percent and is forecast to reach 8 percent next year.
He said new recommendations from a review of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA), Hong Kong's main
social safety net, will be completed by the end of the year and noted that CSSA expenditure has risen nearly four-fold in four years
to HK$9.7 billion in 1997-98.
"Although the current economic conditions have left more people in financial difficulty, the government must handle its finances
prudently and ensure that scarce resources are used effectively and in a targeted manner," Tung said.
"We need therefore, to be very careful in taking this issue forward," the chief executive added.
Officials from social service agencies reacted with disappointment and expressed concern that the scant mention of welfare needs
could foreshadow a reduction in CSSA.
"It sounds like he may be trying to cut it, not improve it," said Ho Hei Wah, director of the Society for Community Organization. "The
difficulties of the lowest and the poorest got a very short mention. This is worse than last year."
Tung did announce that Hong Kong would boost its planned increases in subsidized residential care for the elderly by about 900
places from targets set last year. The new target is for 8,000 new residential care places between 1998 and 2002, representing a
spending increase of HK$670 million over current levels.
The government also will provide 15 additional home help teams in 1999-2000 to assist people caring for elderly relatives at home.
Chua Hoi Wai, director of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, an umbrella group for social service agencies, said the additions
would be quickly overwhelmed by the needs of rising unemployment and workers hit by pay cuts who are struggling to make ends
meet.
"We're quite disappointed," Chua said. "We understand that the financial situation is not so good and the government might not
have adequate monies for new services. But he really does not have a sense about the problems people face."
Chua said he will continue to press for the establishment of a social welfare development fund that would take in excess government
funds in during boom times to be drawn upon during periods of economic difficulty without adding to fiscal deficits.
Also on the education front, Tung announced that Hong Kong's Vocational Training Council is proposing to unify two existing
technical colleges and seven technical institutes by the year 2002 to form a single academic and training institution, the Hong Kong
Institute of Vocational education.
"The new institute will provide courses which will be more attuned to the needs of the economy," Tung said. (US$1 = HK$7.75) ( (c)
1998 Reuters) insidechina.com |
