HONG KONG: Hong Kong will cut thousands of civil service jobs and boost spending in artificial intelligence as it seeks to tackle an increasing deficit, authorities said Wednesday.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan said during a budget speech that there would be a “cumulative reduction” of government recurrent expenditure by 7 percent from now until 2027-2028. Hong Kong’s deficit had reached $87.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($11.2 billion) for the financial year of 2024-2025, making it the third straight year of losses.
“It gives us a clear pathway toward the goal of restoring fiscal balance,” Chan said.
He said 10,000 civil servant posts would be cut by April 2027, representing a reduction of about 2 percent of the civil service in each of the next two years. Salaries will also be frozen in the civil service this year.
Chan also said that up to $195 billion Hong Kong dollars ($25 billion) worth of bonds will also be issued in the next five years to ensure progress of important infrastructure projects, with more than half used to refinance sort-term debt.
To boost income, Hong Kong will also raise its airport departure tax from 120 Hong Kong dollars ($15.50) to 200 Hong Kong dollars ($25.70) from the third quarter of the year, representing a 67 percent increase.
Separately, Hong Kong will also make a push into artificial intelligence by leveraging the city’s “internationalized characteristic to develop Hong Kong into an international exchange and co-operation hub for the AI industry.”
Authorities have also earmarked $1 billion Hong Kong dollars for an AI research and development institute, and will set up a $10 billion ($1.29 billion) innovation and technology fund to invest in “emerging and future industries of strategic importance.”
Hong Kong’s finances have been impacted by a weak property sector, as home prices plunged some 30 percent over the last three years. It is also grappling with economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions as US-China relations deteriorate.
The amount of land premiums paid by developers to the government has declined, hurting Hong Kong’s revenues. Land sales typically made up about a fifth of government income, but this has fallen to just above 5 percent in the last fiscal year.
Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves will shrink 12 percent from $734.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($94.5 billion) to about $647.3 billion Hong Kong dollars ($83.3 billion) by the end of March, and a further 10 percent in 2025-26, Chan said.
Hong Kong is to cut thousands of civil service jobs and invest in AI to tackle a rising deficit
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Hong Kong is to cut thousands of civil service jobs and invest in AI to tackle a rising deficit
‘Doomsday Clock’ moves closer to midnight over threats from nukes, climate change, AI
- At the end of the Cold War, the clock was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds
WASHINGTON: Earth is closer than it’s ever been to destruction as Russia, China, the US and other countries become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic,” a science-oriented advocacy group said Tuesday as it advanced its “Doomsday Clock” to 85 seconds till midnight.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist members had an initial demonstration on Friday and then announced their results on Tuesday.
The scientists cited risks of nuclear war, climate change, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of artificial intelligence without adequate controls as it made the annual announcement, which rates how close humanity is from ending.
Last year the clock advanced to 89 seconds to midnight.
Since then, “hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation” needed to reduce existential risks, the group said.
They worry about the threat of escalating conflicts involving nuclear-armed countries, citing the Russia-Ukraine war, May’s conflict between India and Pakistan and whether Iran is capable of developing nuclear weapons after strikes last summer by the US and Israel.
International trust and cooperation is essential because, “if the world splinters into an us-versus-them, zero-sum approach, it increases the likelihood that we all lose,” said Daniel Holz, chair of the group’s science and security board.
The group also highlighted droughts, heat waves and floods linked to global warming, as well as the failure of nations to adopt meaningful agreements to fight global warming — singling out US President Donald Trump’s efforts to boost fossil fuels and hobble renewable energy production.
Starting in 1947, the advocacy group used a clock to symbolize the potential and even likelihood of people doing something to end humanity.
At the end of the Cold War, it was as close as 17 minutes to midnight. In the past few years, to address rapid global changes, the group has changed from counting down the minutes until midnight to counting down the seconds.
The group said the clock could be turned back if leaders and nations worked together to address existential risks.
