Enhance Competitiveness

• Launch “e-cheque service” in milan官方网站 latter half of 2015
• Assist milan官方网站 Airport Authority Hong Kong in pressing ahead with milan官方网站 planning for a third runway
• Announce milan官方网站 blueprint for railway development beyond 2020 shortly
• Phase out all pre-Euro IV diesel commercial vehicles Applications for ex-gratia payment open from 1 March
• Government actively introduces new and enhanced services while adhering to milan官方网站 principle of keeping expenditure within milan官方网站 limits of revenue
• Recurrent expenditure has kept increasing in recent years, constituting about 80%-95% of milan官方网站 operating expenditure

Economic Outlook for 2014

• Forecast GDP growth of 3% to 4%
• Forecast headline inflation of 4.6% and underlying inflation of 3.7%

Key to Development

• milan官方网站 Vocational Training Council (VTC) will launch a pilot training and support scheme to attract new blood for industries with keen demand for labour.
• 2 000 apprentices will receive an allowance from milan官方网站 Government and milan官方网站 industries
• Allocate $130 million to enhance productivity of milan官方网站 retail industry. VTC will strengthen its corresponding vocational education and training measures
• Include elite training programmes in some secondary schools which are outstanding in IT education to cultivate young IT professionals and entrepreneurs
• Reserve a recurrent provision of $436 million to increase milan官方网站 intake of senior-year undergraduate places in UGC-funded institutions by 1 000 places
• 150 sites are identified for residential use. If their statutory plans are successfully amended, this initiative will make available about 210 000 public and private units in milan官方网站 next five years
• 2014-15 Land Sale Programme will include 34 residential sites, capable of accommodating about 15 500 units. Among these sites, 24 are new ones
• 2014-15 Land Sale Programme will include seven sites for commercial/business use and one for “hotel only”, providing a total floor area of about 230 000 square metres and about 1 100 hotel rooms
• Allocate $176 million annually for extending milan官方网站 Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for milan官方网站 Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities to cover green minibus trips
• Allocate $172 million for 1 500 additional places for milan官方网站 Enhanced Home and Community Care Services
• Reserve $164 million to upgrade 51 social centres for milan官方网站 elderly to neighbourhood elderly centres
• Reserve about $200 million to raise milan官方网站 subsidy levels for places under theEnhanced Bought Place Scheme and places under milan官方网站 Nursing Home Place Purchase Scheme
• Allocate $120 million for 950 additional subsidised residential care places for milan官方网站 elderly
• Reserve $800 million for residential care services vouchers
• Invest $55 billion to build Tin Shui Wai Hospital and Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, redevelop Kwong Wah Hospital, Queen Mary Hospital and Kwai Chung Hospital, and expand United Christian Hospital and Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service Headquarters
• Conduct strategic studies on milan官方网站 construction of an acute general hospital in milan官方网站 Kai Tak Development Area
• Plan for milan官方网站 redevelopment of Queen Elizabeth Hospital and milan官方网站 Phase 2 redevelopment of Prince of Wales Hospital
• Conduct study on milan官方网站 voluntary health protection scheme and consider tax concession for subscribers of regulated insurance products
• Reserve $422 million to study and implement a pilot programme to subsidise colorectal cancer screening for specific age groups
• Increase duty on cigarettes to protect milan官方网站 health of milan官方网站 people
• Allocate $600 million per year for regularising milan官方网站 Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme and increasing milan官方网站 annual voucher value to $2,000

Relief Measures

• Increase milan官方网站 allowance for maintaining a dependent parent or grandparent
• Reduce salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for 2013-14 by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $10,000
• Waive rates for milan官方网站 first two quarters of 2014-15, subject to a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter
• Provide an extra allowance to CSSA recipients, Old Age Allowance, Old Age Living Allowance and Disability Allowance recipients, equal to one month of milan官方网站 respective allowances
• Pay one month’s rent on behalf of public housing tenants

Development of Industries

• Set up an Enterprise Support Programme under milan官方网站 Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) to support R&D activities in private companies, subject to a ceiling of $10 million
• Extend milan官方网站 scope of ITF to fund development work and system integration, industrial design, compliance testing and clinical trials, etc
• Grant $24 million each year to six designated universities to provide seed money for R&D projects and encourage their students and teachers to start up businesses
• Develop an interactive portal to pool all stakeholders in milan官方网站 startup community to promote inventions and innovations as well as attract funding
• Waive stamp duty on milan官方网站 trading of all ETFs to lower transaction costs
• Issue iBond worth up to $10 billion
• Review requirements under Inland Revenue Ordinance for interest deduction in milan官方网站 taxation of treasury activities to draw more of these activities to Hong Kong
• Release six sites within milan官方网站 “hotel belt” adjacent to milan官方网站 Kai Tak Cruise Terminal to develop a distinctive hotel cluster
• Reserve $45 million for providing services and concessions for conventions and exhibitions in milan官方网站 coming three years
• Reserve $50 million for strengthening popular tourist events in milan官方网站 next two years by, for example, introducing 3D projection mapping technology to help showcase milan官方网站 magnificent night view of milan官方网站 Victoria Harbour
• Complete milan官方网站 midfield development of Hong Kong International Airport in 2015
• Work with Guangdong Province for early achievement of liberalisation of trade in services between Hong Kong and Guangdong this year
• Extend application period for special concessionary measures under SME Financing Guarantee Scheme for one year
• Support retailers on a matching fund basis for milan官方网站 use of IT applications and other technologies
• Promote cloud computing applications among SMEs and

Provide them with relevant training

• Reduce profits tax for 2013-14 by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $10,000