Members emphasized in particular the need to make further improvements in services for the elderly and the handicapped, in public assistance payments, in retraining, in education, in housing and in the environment. It will be evident from what I have said that I fully sympathise with these priorities. But at the same time, I remain determined to safeguard Hong Kong's competitiveness. The proposals I have outlined this afternoon will increase our annual spending on these key areas by over $8 billion by 1997. This represents an increase in annual expenditure of 21% in real terms over this period. But we will still be holding spending growth to figures that can be sustained by our economic performance and which will allow us to maintain our traditionally prudent level of reserves. I am determined not to allow Hong Kong to make the mistake made in some other societies and start spending money that we have not earned.
86. The main areas of improvement in the various key programmes will be presented to Members of this Council later this week by the respective Policy Secretaries. In addition, further work will need to be done to flesh out the details in preparation for the 1993/94 Budget, or in some cases for early submission to the Finance Committee of this Council.
87. How will we meet this bill? We have enjoyed an unexpectedly good revenue situation in the recent past and we expect this to continue for the rest of this financial year-hence my proposal to make a very substantial capital injection into the Lotteries Fund. This will enable the fund to make recurrent grants to subvented welfare agencies to meet the targets for the key services set out in the social welfare programme, including rehabilitation. In this way, we can ensure that our targets for social welfare improvements will be securely funded between now and 1997. This is the social dividend of a hard-working, successful and enterprising community.
88. The additional resources required for funding improvements in most of the other key programmes which I have outlined will continue to be met through the general revenue. Given our excellent track record and our robust business prospects, I believe we can make these plans, confident that future economic growth will finance them and without in any way weakening our long-standing commitment to a low-tax policy. I am duty bound to warn that, as always in Hong Kong or elsewhere
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