Q
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1992
WE COULD SEEK TO
It
HE SAID.
"LET US REMIND OURSELVES OF THE ALTERNATIVE. SUPPRESS INFLATION BY A DELIBERATE DEFLATION,
THE RESULT, HE POINTED OUT, WOULD BE SUBSTANTIAL UNEMPLOYMENT,
DRASTIC FALL IN A SHARP RISE IN THE NUMBER OF BANKRUPTCIES AND A INVESTMENT.
VIEW, UNACCEPTABLE,
**THE
"
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COSTS OF SUCH A RECESSION ARE, IN
HE SAID.
MY
MR MACLEOD
RELIEVE
THE BASIC EVEN THOUGH EFFORTS TO SAID
THERE WERE CAUSES OF INFLATION WOULD NOT, PRODUCE IMMEDIATE RESULTS,
MUST BE TACKLED. CERTAIN UNDESIRABLE ASPECTS OF INFLATION WHICH
THE
AS
THE
WAS FIRST
DANGER THAT THE
COMMUNITY'S STANDARDS RISE, THE VULNERABLE, THE DISABLED, THE UNSKILLED ELDERLY WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND, HARD HIT BY RISING PRICES.
TO MAINTAIN THE REAL LIVING STANDARDS OF THESE GROUPS THE GOVERNMENT WOULD CONTINUE TO ENSURE THAT SOCIAL SECURITY WERE REVISED IN LINE WITH THE COST OF LIVING.
"NO ONE WILL BE DEPRIVED OF EDUCATION OR MEDICAL CARE OF A LACK OF MEANS.
LIVING AND THE
HE
SAID
BENEFITS
BECAUSE
"PROSPERITY BRINGS WITH IT AN OBLIGATION FOR THE COMMUNITY PROTECT THOSE MOST AT RISK, ESPECIALLY IN A PERIOD OF INFLATION. GOVERNMENT ACCEPTS THIS RESPONSIBILITY," HE STRESSED.
WHERE SECONDLY,
PRICES WERE MARKET RIGGING, IT WAS ESSENTIAL THAT PUBLIC.
TO
THE
THROUGH
INFLATED DELIBERATELY STEPS WERE TAKEN TO PROTECT THE
WERE "WE ACTED PROMPTLY LAST YEAR WHEN THE PRICES OF NEW FLATS
WITH THE SUPPORT OF THIS BEING DRIVEN SHARPLY UPWARDS BY SPECULATORS.
ENJOY MARKETS COUNCIL, I INTEND TO SEE THAT HONG KONG CONTINUES TO WHERE, AS FAR AS POSSIBLE,
ENSURES THAT THE PUBLIC GETS A COMPETITION FAIR DEAL," HE SAID.
0
BUDGET PROPOSALS FOCUS ON PUBLIC' FINANCES MANAGEMENT : FS
THE FINANCIAL
MANAGEMENT
SECRETARY,
THE
(WEDNESDAY) SAID IN PREPARING HIS BUDGET
OF PUBLIC FINANCES ON THE MANIPULATE MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES.
HON HAMISH
TODAY MACLEOD, PROPOSALS HE HAD FOCUSSED RATHER THAN ATTEMPTING TO
MR MACLEOD SAID IN ANY EVENT, RELATIVELY SMALL, AND HONG KÒNG BUDGETS HAD NEUTRAL IN MACROECONOMIC TERMS, AS IS THIS ONE.
PRESENTING THE BUDGET FOR 1992-93 TO THE LEGISLATIVE
THE SIZE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR WAS TENDED TO BE BASICALLY
COUNCIL,
/IN SETTING
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