XN000022-1992-03-04 — Page 10

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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