To ensure the sustainability of public finance, the Hong Kong government implemented zero growth in civil service in 2021/22.
On Jan. 22, the Hong Kong government released the 2023-24 budget and announced that the civil service establishment would maintain zero growth in the new financial year of 2023/24.
The Government stated that civil service departments would enhance effectiveness and efficacy through reprioritization, internal redeployment, and streamlining of work processes to promote various new policies and initiatives.
However, under the “zero growth of civil service,” law enforcement expenses continued to rise.
Paul Chan Mau-po, Secretary for Finance, said in the budget speech that the peripheral environment remained full of challenges after two years of massive fiscal deficits during the pandemic. Chan said he would continue to abide by financial discipline and measures of income and expenditure, strictly control the growth of the civil service establishment, and discuss potential income increases….