Financial Results for the First 11 Months of
2008-2009 Financial Year

For more information, please contact:
Melissa Ng / David Hsieh at 212-752-3320
Daniel McAtee at 202-238-6360
Wing Yan Tong at 415-835-9315

March 31, 2009 - The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced today its financial results for the 11 months ended February 28, 2009.

There was a deficit of HK$6.6 billion (US$846.15 million) in February, bringing the net surplus down to HK$43.2 billion (US$5.53 billion) up to end of February 2009. Expenditure for the period April 2008 to February 2009 amounted to HK$258.5 billion (US$33.14 billion) and revenue HK$301.7 billion (US$38.67 billion).

A government spokesman said that the February figures had not reflected the injection to Mandatory Provident Funds accounts and the Research Endowment Fund as well as payment for Sichuan Reconstruction which were made in March.

The fiscal reserves stood at HK$536.1 billion (US$68.73 billion) as at February 28, 2009.