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Public Debt
FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND ECONOMY
At March 31, 1981, net available public financial assets were $16,036 million, while the public debt amounted to some $246 million about $48 per head of population, as compared with $423 million as at March 31, 1980 – about $84 per head of population. This decrease was principally due to the redemption in November 1980 of the 1975 issue of government bonds amounting to $250 million.
Urban Council
The Urban Council, operating through the Urban Services Department, is free to draw up its own budget and to determine its own priorities in expenditure within its various spheres of activity. This expenditure is financed mainly through the Urban Council rate, and from fees and charges for the services and facilities which the council provides. In the 1981-2 financial year, the council worked to an overall budget of $920 million.
Housing Authority
The Housing Authority, which also is financially autonomous, is responsible for the provision and management of public housing. The authority's executive arm is the Housing Department. Under the Housing Ordinance, the authority is required to direct its policy to ensure that its income, derived mainly from rent, is sufficient to meet its recurrent expenditure on the management of public housing estates. In the 1980-1 financial year rental and other income from estates totalled $940 million. In providing new housing estates under the government's public housing programme, the authority is provided with land, the value of which is reflected in the authority's balance sheet as a government contribution. Where its cash flow is inadequate to meet construction costs, the authority within limits may borrow from the Development Loan Fund on concessionary terms. At March 31, 1981, loans outstanding for public housing estates totalled $2,949 million.
The Housing Authority is also responsible for squatter control, the clearance of squatters from Crown land required for development, and the development of temporary housing and temporary industrial areas. The cost of these activities is met in full from the government's general revenue. The authority is the agent of the government in designing, constructing and marketing the flats under the Home Ownership Scheme; the flats are financed through the Home Ownership Fund, whilst any related commercial facilities, which are authority properties, are financed from the Development Loan Fund.
Revenue from Land Sales
The total revenue to be collected by the Government from all land transactions in 1981-2 is estimated to be $9,401 million in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and $2,429 million in the New Territories. These estimated figures compare with actual amounts collected in 1980–1 of $9,083 million in the Urban area and $1,686 million in the New Territories.
Estimated revenue for 1981-2 from the sale of Crown land by auction or tender, included in the above figures, is $8,119 million in the urban areas and $1,736 million in the New Territories.
Internal Revenue
The Inland Revenue Department assesses and collects all taxes, duties and fees making up the internal revenue which consists of betting duty, business registration fees, entertain-