Paul Chan should welcome lawmakers' budget scrutiny, not dismiss it

Congratulations to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po for getting the city's budget to sail through the Legislative Council. It wasn't always such smooth sailing and Chan would do well to acknowledge as much. When Chan was first given the keys to the city's coffers, they were full. Successive financial secretaries faced political pressure of a very different kind. There weren't many issues that opposing parties saw eye to eye on. However, accusing the government of hoarding cash and not giving out enough "sweeteners" was the one thing they did manage to agree on. Chan should recall the battles he had to fight after delivering his second budget in 2018. It was another year when the government had recorded a record surplus. Political parties – friend and foe alike – threatened to veto it if he did not cough up more cash. Those were very different times. Although Chan proudly announced that the city had recorded its first surplus following a three-year deficit streak heading into his budget speech this year, we know it was only achieved because the government counted bond proceeds as revenue. It also took into account the clawbacks from six seed capital funds. Many expressed anxiety over Chan's plans to spend, and especially about where he intends to get the money to do it. Chan's plans to take money from the Exchange Fund's investment income have sparked debate and have been met with concerns from legislators. The scheme involves using HK$150 billion (US$19.1 billion) from the Exchange Fund, a cornerstone of the Linked Exchange Rate System and Hong Kong's financial stability, to increase bond issuance to fund the Northern Metropolis megaproject. We are going all-in, tapping into what has been used previously to get the city out of financial crises, making a bet on a future staked to the Northern Metropolis.