Legco passes budget with no votes against
The Legislative Council on Wednesday voted through Financial Secretary Paul Chan's budget with 87 votes for and no votes against. A sole abstention came from Tik Chi-yuen who said he was unhappy that the administration was cutting spending on social welfare. After the budget was passed, the financial chief said he will now spare no effort in implementing the measures he proposed, including consumption vouchers and a rent moratorium that bans landlords from evicting businesses late on rent. "This budget is the last one of this government term. In the past five years, Hong Kong's economy was hard hit by social unrest and the Covid situation," he said. "But... we have been going all out to overcome these challenges... doing our best to stabilise the economy, safeguarding people's livelihood and riding out the hard times with the public." He added that the government will announce a revised annual GDP forecast later this month. Chan said the local economy can continue to rebound if the pandemic situation remains stable, but it will still be affected by external factors.