CY Leung extends economic olive branch after veto

Hong Kong’s leader extended an olive branch of economic stimulus to the city a day after lawmakers vetoed a Beijing-backed electoral reform package, a move economists warned could undermine business in the Asian financial hub.

Chief Executive CY Leung said he would bring a series of economic initiatives to lawmakers next week, and called for their support.

Democratic lawmakers had been filibustering all budget items during the city’s pro-democracy protests, holding up funding for a variety of slated projects. Leung said that a continuation of such actions would hurt the community.

“It’s time for all of us to move on,” Leung told reporters. “We should try to forge consensus on various economic and livelihood issues.”

Lawmakers yesterday ended a long-running debate on political reform in the city with a veto, a rare instance of the former British colony voting against a proposal endorsed by China’s central legislature.

Economists at ANZ had warned that such a move could cause political instability and hurt business as foreign investors might put their China headquarters in Shanghai or Shenzhen instead of Hong Kong.

Fitch Ratings said that Hong Kong’s economic concerns were significant from a sovereign credit perspective. It also needed to pay attention to its growing exposure to mainland China’s financial system and to U.S. monetary tightening, as well as an ageing population, housing and infrastructure and social inequality.

Leung said his economic proposals would include better pay for civil servants, more homes for the elderly and additional funding for recycling and small and medium businesses.

Words: Reuters
Photo: Yuyu via Wikimedia



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