TNAG-1641-FCO40-2288-Budget-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 169

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11.2.87

into 1987-88 and beyond. With the present improved

outlook for the public finances, we have a range of

options: further growth in facilities and services; a

reduction in the burden on taxpayers; the accumulation of

fiscal reserves; or a prudent mixture of all of them. The

last option is, in my view, the right way forward. The

proposals I shall detail later include a controlled

increase in public spending together with a modest

lowering of the burden on taxpayers.

36.

Last year, for the first time, we included in

Such a forecast

the budget a Medium Range Forecast.

should not be regarded as detailing a plan of action, but

merely as providing a benchmark against which progress can

be measured.

37.

The Medium Range Forecast is put together on the

basis of a number of important underlying

assumptions (10). I shall now comment upon some of these

assumptions, and draw attention to any changes that have

taken place since the last Medium Range Forecast was

published.

(10)

The assumptions are described in Appendix C.

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