Cutting civil servants’ pay would impact public’s earnings, HK legislators say amid looming HK$100 bn deficit
Hong Kong Free Press
Cutting the salaries of Hong Kong’s civil servants was not the best option to tackle a looming budget deficit as it would impact the earnings of the general public, finance sector legislator Chan Chun-ying has said.
Meeting the press on Tuesday, Chan said that the private and non-profit sectors referred to civil servants’ remuneration when deciding on adjustments to their own employees’ income.
“If civil servants pay was cut or frozen, I believe it would not only impact the more than 100,000 civil servants, but also a significant portion of the over 3 million workers in Hong Kong,” Chan said in Cantonese. “Would you want most workers’ wages to be cut? It would be the start of a vicious cycle in Hong Kong.”
On Monday, Chan Kin-por, a lawmaker representing the insurance sector, said in the legislature reducing the salaries of government employees should be “a last resort” as it would impact the wages earning in other sectors, resulting in weak consumption.
Chan Kin-por said that instead of cutting wages of all civil servants, the government should cut headcount and prevent abuses of housing and transport allowances.
The remarks from the two pro-establishment lawmakers came after the government announced it expected its deficit to double earlier forecasts to HK$100 billion for the current fiscal year. The previous two years also saw annual deficit of over HK$100 billion.
There are around 170,000 civil servants, whose salaries cost HK$156 billion in 2023-24. Since April, all of them enjoyed a salary increase of 3 per cent.
In early December, Simon Lee, a senior lecturer at the School of Accountancy of Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School, said that he was pessimistic about Hong Kong’s economic outlook and suggested the government cut civil servants’ pay by 8 to 10 per cent.
Public consultation for Budget starts
The public consultation period for the 2025-26 Budget began on Sunday, the government has announced, without saying how long the consultation will last.
“In light of a continuously uncertain external environment, a complex and changing global political and economic landscape, and the structural adjustments taking place in Hong Kong’s economy, we must manage public finances more prudently,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in a statement on Sunday.
“Meanwhile, it is equally important to drive our economic development forward. At the present stage, both development and stability are central to our progress.”
The city’s leader John Lee said on Tuesday during the weekly press conference that he would consider cutting expenditure and boosting economic development to address the budget deficit, but did not mention specific measures.
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