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He said the Government had attempted, with the advice of the Legislative Council, to prioritise so as to meet the aspirations of the community without breaching the fundamental guideline of living within its means.
"The community at large, including this council, has generally supported our common sense approach.
"And provided we hold true to our economic and budgetary principles, we can and will maintain the steady growth that will improve the livelihood of all," he said.
End
FS in debate on freezing of fees and charges.
Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, the Hon Donald Tsang, in the motion debate on Freezing of government, public bodies and utility companies' fees and charges, and public housing rentals in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President.
The motion before the Council this evening quotes two problems and two opportunities, and then goes on to suggest a four-part remedy. I must respectfully put it to Members that this construction, though superficially neat and attractive, is not well founded.
First, inflation. At an average of 8.7% for 1995 as a whole this is still higher than we would like it to be, but as the Secretary for the Treasury has pointed out, it is now heading in the right direction. Certainly we are no longer in the situation of five years ago when the increase in CPI(A) was well into double digits and seemingly spiralling out of control. The rate is coming down because the resource situation has eased, and also because we have addressed, and continue to address, the bottlenecks that tend to exert upward pressure. The way to keep inflation under control is to maintain that unspectacular, but in the long run more effective, course.
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Second, the unemployment rate. Unemployment is a complex subject, and a problem that the Government takes very seriously. It seems that the rate has stabilised at about 3.5% which is the envy of most communities in the world but higher than we have become used to. Again, the correct response of our community must be to seek out the appropriate long term measures, not snatch at "quick fix" palliatives that would only serve to make the situation worse. The theme of long term economic fundamentals is one to which I will return in my Budget Speech in six weeks' time.