Following is the transcript of remarks by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at a media session on "The Chief Executive's 2017 Policy Address" at the Legislative Council Complex today (October 11):

Reporter: Mr Secretary, with all the initiatives proposed by the Chief Executive, the bulk of the investments that she mentioned, how much do you expect ... and will there be enough ...?

Financial Secretary: We have done a rough estimate on the expenditure required in order to implement the various initiatives announced by the Chief Executive. At this stage, I'm sorry that I would not like to give a concrete figure, because a lot of the details are still to be worked out, which will certainly affect the financial implications. So, if you don't mind, I would reserve those details until the announcement of the Budget. But on the other hand, we have done a rough, medium-term estimate assessing the impact of these initiatives in the financial position of the Government in the next five years. We are confident that given the current economic situation, the medium-term income and expenditure of the Government remains quite healthy, and we have very substantial fiscal reserves which will enable us to weather through any sudden or substantial changes in external environments. We will be able to launch initiatives required to stabilise our economy if any such unforeseen circumstances happen. So on the one hand we have to be prudent, but on the other hand, in order to address the needs of the community and to better serve our people, we should spend the money in the areas that we think are justified. Thank you very much indeed.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Issued at HKT 15:08

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