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Supplementary Appropriation (1995-96) Bill
Following is a speech by the Secretary for the Treasury, Mr K C Kwong, in moving the second reading of the Supplementary Appropriation (1995-96) Bill 1996 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move that the Supplementary Appropriation (1995-96) Bill 1996 be read the second time.
Section 9 of the Public Finance Ordinance states that "If at the close of account for any financial year it is found that expenditure charged to any head is in excess of the sum appropriated for that head by an Appropriation Ordinance, the excess shall be included in a Supplementary Appropriation Bill which shall be introduced into the Legislative Council as soon as practicable after the close of the financial year to which the excess expenditure relates".
The accounts for the financial year 1995-96 have been finalised by the Director of Accounting Services. The expenditure charged to 69 heads out of a total of 92 heads is in excess of the sum originally appropriated for those heads in the Appropriation Ordinance 1995. In each head, including Head 50 - Government Land Transport Agency, on which I shall elaborate later, this excess expenditure reflects supplementary provision approved by the Finance Committee or under powers delegated by it. These supplementary provisions were off-set by savings within the same head or under other heads or the provisions for "Additional Commitments" under Head 106 - Miscellaneous Services. The Supplementary Appropriation (1995-96) Bill 1996 seeks final legislative authority for the amount of supplementary provision approved in respect of particular heads of expenditure by the Finance Committee or under powers delegated by it.
The total supplementary appropriation required in respect of the 69 heads of expenditure is $7,482.6 million. As in previous years, this excess is largely attributable to the implementation of the annual pay adjustment for the Civil Service and Government subvented organisations ($4,627.1 million).
Other major contributing factors include the increased expenditure under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Social Security Allowance schemes ($1,073.6 million), and additional expenditure on pensions ($589.5 million). In preparing the original estimates for the year we had made provision to cover the costs of the 1995 pay adjustment, the inflation related adjustment to payments under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Social Security Allowance schemes and the additional payments arising from the statutory inflation-linked adjustment to pensions under the "Additional Commitments" subhead.