Govt Extends Fee Waivers

The Government announced today that it will extend government fee and rental waivers and concessions as well as the application period of the Special 100% Guarantee Product under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan noted that although the Hong Kong economy has gradually regained momentum since early this year, the epidemic is still affecting the business environment of different sectors and the Government considered that it is necessary to sustain the support for them.

“We therefore decide to extend various measures and guarantee products for assisting businesses and relevant sectors, thereby reducing their costs and cash flow pressure,” he said.

The majority of the waivers and concessions of government fees and charges will be extended for one year from October 1, while the remaining ones will progressively take effect on a later date upon the expiry of the respective existing measures.

The Government will publish in the gazette the required subsidiary legislation on August 27 and submit the related subsidiary legislation to the Legislative Council in September for negative vetting.

The estimated revenue forgone to the Government arising from the extension of these waivers and concessions amounts to $2.036 billion.

The proposed extension of fee waiver by the Construction Industry Council in respect of the registration of construction workers will also be implemented in this legislative exercise and the estimated revenue forgone is about $10 million.

The current arrangement of granting 75% rental or fee concessions applicable to eligible tenants of government properties and eligible short-term tenancies and waivers under the Lands Department was scheduled to expire on October 1.

The concessions will be extended by another six months to March 31, 2022, and the resulting estimated revenue forgone to the Government amounts to $1.376 billion.

During the period, tenants who have to close their properties at the request of the Government will continue to receive a full rental waiver for the duration of the closure.

The Government will also extend the application period of the Special 100% Guarantee Product under the guarantee scheme by six months to June 30, 2022.

It will seek the approval of LegCo's Finance Committee to provide an additional $35 billion of financial commitment, thereby increasing the Government's total commitment under the guarantee scheme to $218 billion.