Hong Kong Cuts Taxes as GDP Forecast to Shrink 3%

Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong will refund taxes, suspend property rates and boost spending on infrastructure as the economy heads for its first full-year contraction since 1998, the government said.

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The city will also spend HK$1.6 billion ($206 million) on a program aimed at creating 62,000 jobs and internships, Financial Secretary John Tsang said in his budget speech today. Gross domestic product may shrink 2 percent to 3 percent in 2009, after a 2.5 percent expansion last year, Tsang said. The Hang Seng Index of stocks pared gains on investors’ concern the government needs to do more to counter a deepening recession as the global financial crisis cuts exports and jobs...more

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