HK Records 38.4 Billion HK Dollars Financial DeficitHong Kong recorded a financial deficit of 38.4 billion HK dollars (US$4.92 billion) in the first seven months ending October 31 of the fiscal year.Expenditure for the period from April to October 2000 amounted to 126 billion HK dollars (US$16.15 billion) and revenue to 87.6 billion HK dollars (US$11.23 billion), announced the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government Thursday, November 30. There was a surplus of 2.3 billion HK dollars in October. And a government spokesman attributed it mainly to the receipt of the proceeds from selling part of the shares held by the government in Hong Kong subway, known as MTR Corporation Limited. On the accumulated deficit in the first seven months of the financial year, he said that this was not unusual as many major types of revenue including taxes were mostly received towards the end of a financial year. The fiscal reserves stood at 405.9 billion HK dollars (US$52.04 billion) as at October 31, 2000. |
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