Paul Chan: jabs are a shot in the arm for businesses

Financial Secretary Paul Chan says he hopes that businesses can get back to making money again – now that the SAR’s long-awaited Covid-19 vaccination programme has begun.

Some 177,000 people had received Covid vaccinations as of Sunday, raising hopes of more economic reopening and an end to a recession that stretches back more than a year.

Speaking on RTHK’s Letter to Hong Kong programme, Chan said the government was working to stimulate the economy, and vaccinations would help.

“The good news is that Hong Kong’s vaccination programme has started,” Chan said. “That, I hope, will put the worst of the pandemic behind us, getting businesses back to the business of making money.

“Ideally, that reset finds real momentum in the second half of the year.”

Chan’s comments came three weeks after he delivered his annual budget, which he said had been particularly difficult given the twin challenges of a HK$250 billion dollar deficit and and the need to provide economic relief to the public.

However Chan said that despite the deficits, “this is not the time to be retooling our profits and salaries taxes”. He said he had kept both taxes at the same rate while continuing to provide a 100 percent waiver with a cap of HK$10,000.