HKSAR govt to inject around $825.53m to help COVID-19-hit industries

HONG KONG - The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Thursday that it will launch a new round of anti-epidemic fund worth HK$6.4 billion (about $825.53 million) to help hard-hit industries, including fitness centers and restaurants.

Matthew Cheung, chief secretary for administration of the HKSAR government, told the media that among the HK$6.4 billion relief funding, HK$5.5 billion are earmarked to help industries hard-hit by COVID-19 and the remaining will be for emergency use.

The HKSAR government's decision of injecting a new round of funding was prompted by the latest epidemic situation which is not optimistic, Cheung said, adding that this round will be more focused on helping premises that are ordered to close under the social distancing measures.

The HKSAR government has committed over HK$300 billion of relief funding to fight COVID-19 so far. It is estimated that the HKSAR government would see a record high deficit of more than HK$300 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year, Cheung said.

The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR will meet next Monday and discuss the funding application, according to Cheung.