Hong Kong’s public expenditure growth should not exceed that of its revenue despite signs of improving finances, Paul Chan Mo-po has said, while noting that the market expects increased government investment to speed up economic development.
But the financial secretary on Sunday also painted a rosy picture for the city’s retail sector, revealing that sales figures for December, set to be released on Tuesday, would show that growth was continuing to rise.
The value of total retail sales in November 2025 was provisionally estimated at HK$33.7 billion (US$4.3 billion), representing a 6.5 per cent increase year on year.
Chan is expected to announce the next budget on February 25.
In his weekly blog post on Sunday, he said the local economy had got off to a good start in 2026, seeing an unexpectedly high stamp duty revenue thanks to the stock market boom.
The Hang Seng Index closed at 27,387 last Friday, rising by nearly 7 per cent for the month. January’s average daily turnover exceeded HK$272 billion, an increase of 90 per cent compared with the same period last year.
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