Briefings by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs and the Secretary for Innovation and Technology on the Chief Executive’s 2018 Policy Address
Multi-pronged strategy to assist the trade amid the China-United States trade dispute
Mr CHAN Chun-ying enquired about the Administration’s measures to help SMEs tide over the potential economic downturn caused by the China-US trade dispute and the rising interest rates, apart from the special enhancement measures implemented by the ECIC and the extension of the special concessionary measures under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme.
SCED advised that in addition to the short-term measures to cope with the effect of the trade dispute, the Administration had in the past 18 months implemented multifarious medium- to long-term measures to bolster the local economy, including the two-tiered profits tax rates regime implemented from 1 April 2018, whereby the profits tax rate for the first HK$2 million of profits of corporations was lowered by 50%, as well as additional injections into different funds applicable to SMEs and start-ups. The Administration had also increased the approved commitment of the Export Marketing and Trade and Industrial Organisation Support Fund as well as the BUD Fund by HK$1 billion and HK$1.5 billion respectively to support the trade. Moreover, the Administration would implement measures to leverage the opportunities offered by the Greater Bay Area development and the Belt and Road Initiative.
Pro-innovation government procurement policy
In response to Mr CHAN Chun-ying’s enquiry about details of the pro-innovation government procurement policy announced in the 2018 Policy Address, S for IT said that the Administration would introduce a pro-innovation government procurement policy in April 2019. By raising the technical weighting and imposing a requirement to embrace innovation in tender assessment, tenders with innovative suggestions would stand a better chance of winning government contracts. The Administration would implement measures to facilitate the participation of I&T start-ups and SMEs in government procurement, such as breaking down government contracts into smaller ones. In addition, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer would set up a Smart Government Innovation Lab and invite the industry to put forward proposals on information technology (“IT”) applications and product suggestions for used in public services.