"A New Direction for Hong Kong"

HK Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, delivered his annual policy address yesterday.
10 mega infrastructure projects will be rolled out in the next 5yrs, which are expected to fetch about HK$100 bil/yr in economic benefits, and create 250k jobs.

Besides infrastructure development, other carrots are:
(1) Tax Reduction (for FY2008 - 2009)
- Profits tax fr 17.5% to 16.5%
- Salary tax fr 16% to 15%

(2) Financial Activities
- Integrate HK's financial industry with China
- HK as a platform for China's investment funds
- Develop Islamic finance and bond mkt

(3) Education
- Free public education for 12yrs, up from current 9yrs (wef 2009)
- Increase number of international schools

* ChinaView-Policy , ShangHaiDaily-Policy *