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Sensible action to contain inflation
The Government is doing all that it sensibly can to contain inflation, bearing in mind the sensitivities over labour importation, the Financial Secretary, the Hon Sir Hamish Macleod, told the Legislative Council in his concluding speech on the 1995/96 Budget.
"We exercise firm control over government expenditure. We avoid fuelling inflation through excessive tax cuts.
"We protect the weak and the vulnerable by adjusting Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments annually in line with inflation, augmented by real increases from time to time,"
he said.
And in the longer term, the Government is increasing the supply of land and seeking to remove bottlenecks by investing in the development of infrastructure.
"And in this connection, I am heartened by the recent remarks of Director Lu Ping indicating that there should be good news on the financial arrangements for the airport in a few days," he said.
Sir Hamish pointed out that there were no easy answers to inflation, adding that "the community would not thank us if we reduced inflation by driving the economy into recession."
Turning to the reliability of unemployment statistics, he said the Government would look further at the statistics to try and ensure they accurately reflect the scale and the nature of the problem.
End/Wednesday, March 29, 1995
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