HONG KONG, January 14th 2021 – The 2021-22 stimulus presents a unique opportunity to shift course to a resilient recovery and to accelerate achieving our city’s endeavours of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor emphasized in her 2020 Policy Address. This will bring about long-term sustained benefits for Hong Kong, securing its future economic prospects, improving the city’s liveability, and establishing a greener, more equitable society.

Against this background, Civic Exchange is pleased to submit our recommendations on how the Government should prioritize its expenditure in the 2021-22 Budget, to ensure fiscal spending is well-directed, cost-effective and cost-efficient in stimulating the city’s economy to move faster towards a green transition. We believe that our recommended areas and actions will also align well with the Government’s five-pronged budget strategy approach: (i) “promote economic development”, (ii) “continue to support enterprises and safeguard jobs”, (iii) “improve people’s livelihoods”, (iv) “enhance public services”, and (v) “invest for our future”, and we will make explicit reference to these focal points in our presented propositions.