Our team at the POD Research Institute met with the Financial Secretary to present our 2026\u201327 Budget Recommendations. \n\nWe called for a strategy of prudent management and targeted investment, focusing on accelerating AI development, advancing the low\u2011orbit economy, strengthening public financial management, improving family\u2011friendly policies, and introducing a safeguarded mechanism for first\u2011time buyers to use limited MPF funds for down payments. \n\nWith Hong Kong\u2019s finances stabilising, this is a pivotal moment to invest in the city\u2019s long\u2011term competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We propose strengthening AI governance and establishing a strategic fund, launching low-track talent and international cooperation initiatives, introducing cost-benefit analysis and zero-based budgeting to enhance fiscal discipline, while also increasing the child tax exemption and introducing support vouchers for first-time parents. We also suggest allowing first-time homebuyers limited withdrawals of their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) for down payments under a prudent mechanism. With public finances returning to stability, now is the best time for Hong Kong to invest in its future.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our team at the POD Research Institute met with the Financial Secretary to present our 2026\u201327 Budget Recommendations. \n\nWe called for a strategy of prudent management and targeted investment, focusing on accelerating AI development, advancing the low\u2011orbit economy, strengthening public financial management, improving family\u2011friendly policies, and introducing a safeguarded mechanism for first\u2011time buyers to use limited MPF funds for down payments. \n\nWith Hong Kong\u2019s finances stabilising, this is a pivotal moment to invest in the city\u2019s long\u2011term competitiveness.<\/p>\n
We propose strengthening AI governance and establishing a strategic fund, launching low-track talent and international cooperation initiatives, introducing cost-benefit analysis and zero-based budgeting to enhance fiscal discipline, while also increasing the child tax exemption and introducing support vouchers for first-time parents. We also suggest allowing first-time homebuyers limited withdrawals of their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) for down payments under a prudent mechanism. With public finances returning to stability, now is the best time for Hong Kong to invest in its future.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-2882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-pod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2884,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions\/2884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raypoon.hk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}