Hong Kong budget 2024-25: finance chief Paul Chan to deliver blueprint some experts are calling the most difficult ever

All eyes are on how he lifts some of the decade-old cooling measures to revive Hong Kong’s depressed property market, with lived-in home prices falling for the ninth straight month in January to a level last seen in 2016.

Sources said Chan, who is delivering his address in the Legislative Council chamber on Wednesday morning, might only lift some measures. They also revealed that he will allocate a total of HK$971 million (US$124 million) to the Tourism Board over three financial years, including HK$304 million for mega events and more for regular monthly fireworks to give a much-needed boost to the sector in luring visitors back following the pandemic.

The financial secretary has pledged to take a more targeted approach to spending this year and ditch consumption vouchers for residents as the city’s deficit is set to balloon to more than HK$100 billion, potentially leaving Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves at their lowest in a decade.

Reporting by Jeffie Lam, Denise Tsang, Lo Hoi-ying, Sammy Heung, Elizabeth Cheung, Lilian Cheng, Natalie Wong, Oscar Liu, Connor Mycroft, Jess Ma and Harvey Kong