The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will continue bending over backwards to contain the most severe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, while taking further concrete steps to shore up enterprises and stabilize the local economy, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has pledged.
Writing in his Sunday blog, the city’s financial chief said the pandemic’s fifth wave has taken its toll not only on the health and well-being of residents, but also on multiple fronts of the local economy and society.
The city’s unemployment rate had gone up to 4.5 percent from December last year to February — an increase of 0.6 percent compared with the previous quarter — and was the most notable rise for the past 18 months. Up to 157,000 people were jobless. The retail, catering and food industries bore the brunt of the downturn with the sectors’ unemployment rate skyrocketing to 6.9 percent.
The underemployment rate reached 2.3 percent — a six-month high — during the period.
Projecting that Hong Kong’s economy would see negative growth in the first quarter of 2022 amid dwindling employment, Chan said keeping the pandemic in check is central to propping up the economy in the second quarter.
The anti-pandemic battle represents a challenge to the people’s endurance, he said, stressing that the Hong Kong government will take more effective and determined measures to minimize the social and economic impact of the outbreak.
The daily number of COVID-19 infections has somewhat eased in the past few days, with 14,068 cases recorded on Monday — slightly down from 14,149 cases on Sunday. About 1.047 million people in Hong Kong have come down with the virus since January 2020 when the pandemic broke out.
Chan said the anti-pandemic measures are paramount for companies to keep themselves afloat amid the public-health crisis, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. “SMEs are a key pillar of our economy, accounting for 98 percent of businesses in Hong Kong and employing 45 percent of the labor force in the private sector. Stabilizing SMEs is crucial to preserving the economy’s energy and resilience and, more importantly, in preventing more jobs from being lost,” he said.
The special administrative region government has so far introduced a series of favorable policies for SMEs. These include optimizing the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme, raising the maximum loan amount for each enterprise and extending the maximum repayment period from eight years to 10 years to alleviate the cash-flow pressure on SMEs.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last week announced the latest round of the Employment Support Scheme to aid employees whose monthly salary is below HK$30,000 ($3,833). Eligible workers will be granted HK$8,000 a month for three months. The subsidy is expected to benefit up to 1.3 million employees in the city.
Chan also said there have been no systemic risks seen on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange despite the market volatility last week. There has been no outflow of funds and the financial resources of securities companies are adequate in coping with market risks, he added.
