XN000022-1996-03-06 — Page 84

8.

End

-

70

The Organisation of Government Support

The Government is considering whether a permanent institution should be established within the Government Secretariat to co-ordinate and monitor the progress of these services-related initiatives. The views of the private sector will play an important part in this decision.

Financial Secretary's TV Broadcast

Following is the full text of the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang's TV Broadcast today (Wednesday):

Good Evening,

This afternoon, I presented my first Budget to the Legislative Council. It was naturally a great honour for me, as the first local Financial Secretary, to present a Budget to the first fully elected legislature.

But of course the Budget is not just the work of one person. Nor does it reflect the thinking of only one individual. It represents the efforts of many people in the Hong Kong Government and the Legislative Council. And it sums up the philosophy of the entire Administration and, indeed, the whole Hong Kong community.

What is it that we are telling the world about ourselves?

Well, the first thing we're saying is that Hong Kong lives within its means. We will have a small deficit this year as we expected, because we are investing so much in the new airport. But next year, we'll be back in the black as usual. Hong Kong pays its way.

But balancing the books doesn't mean we can't spend more. On the contrary. because we've been so careful with public finances, we've kept the economy growing. And that means new wealth is being created to pay for new services. An extra $300 million for the Employees Retraining Board. An enhanced CSSA package costing $500 million. Plus many other improvements to our social services. So once again, the lion's share of the extra money has gone to help the elderly and those unable to help themselves. Hong Kong has a heart.