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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, at a media session after attending an RTHK radio programme this (October 17) morning:
Reporter: CE spoke at a programme this morning that itĄ¯s quite likely that we are going to face a large deficit. He doesnĄ¯t have the figure because itĄ¯s not his job, itĄ¯s your work, as what he said on the programme. What is your reaction? Is it likely that we will face a deficit?
Financial Secretary: It is indeed my job. And I'll try to do a good job. We will, as I said before, probably face a deficit. That was how it was budgeted when I did my Budget earlier this year. But now with the possibility of a reduction in the amount of income, the likelihood of a deficit has increased.
Reporter: Do you have a forecast of how large it will be?
Financial Secretary: It's difficult to say because the current figures are not that reliable. We have to look at the end of the year the kind of income we will get from different taxes. But people also have the right to sort of defer paying. So that is really hard to say, but I would suspect that there will be a deficit.
Reporter: And how will the Government deal with the deficit?
Financial Secretary: We will deal with it in the way that we usually deal with deficits.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, October 17, 2008
Issued at HKT 10:51
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