Hong Kong bets on AI , finance in new budget amid buoyant economic turnaround

en.people.cn · Feb 27, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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(Xinhua) 13:03, February 27, 2026 HONG KONG, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has recently unveiled its budget for the 2026/27 fiscal year, a plan that figures across sectors say proactively aligns with the country's 15th Five-Year Plan and advances development around two central pillars -- "AI+" and "Finance+" -- in what is expected to reinforce the city's core competitiveness, lift economic momentum and underpin a steady shift toward stronger, more robust growth. Over the past year, Hong Kong's economy and capital markets have staged a recovery, while its public finances have improved faster than forecast, returning to surplus ahead of schedule. The HKSAR government expects a 2.9 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 370.76 million U.S. dollars) surplus for the 2025/26 fiscal year, a marked turnaround from the 67 billion Hong Kong dollars deficit it originally forecast. In the budget, Paul Chan, financial secretary of the HKSAR government, unveiled a raft of measures to develop Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub, including accelerating AI-driven industrialization, developing the Northern Metropolis into a new international I&T base, and nurturing and strengthening emerging industries. Duncan Chiu, a member of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR, noted that the budget has included cutting-edge sectors such as aerospace technology and embodied intelligence in its development blueprint, demonstrating the HKSAR government's sharp grasp of emerging technological trends and its determination to fully align with the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). The Hong Kong Academy of Sciences and the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences said the budget will further consolidate Hong Kong's status as an international I&T hub, and fully leverage its unique advantage with its close connection with the world market and strong support from the motherland. The budget will help Hong Kong attract top global research and development teams and high-end tech talents, making innovation and technology a new engine, new driving force and new strength for Hong Kong's future development, they believed. AI is a key focus of I&T development in this budget. Chiu said AI has become a decisive factor in urban competitiveness, and the corresponding resource input and policy arrangements are of great significance for Hong Kong to seize opportunities in the new round of technological revolution. Sunny Tan, chairman of Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), said the council will fully align with the proposals of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan and the budget, drive diversified development through innovation and technology, assist industries and small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving sustained transformation and upgrading through new quality productive forces, and help enterprises from Hong Kong and the mainland further expand their global networks. John Lee Chi-Kin, president of the Education University of Hong Kong, believed that the various measures proposed in the budget will promote the deep integration of AI with various industries and help nurture and attract more professionals to develop in Hong Kong. The development of the Northern Metropolis is crucial to Hong Kong's future growth and industrial transformation. Legislative Council member Yiu Ming said the budget has put forward a bold package of measures and an unprecedented level of financial support for the development of the Northern Metropolis. It will help attract market forces at a faster pace, improve infrastructure, strengthen support for startups, and foster a complete upstream, midstream and downstream ecosystem for the I&T industry at an early date, creating more jobs for local residents, he said. "Financial empowerment" is one of the key themes of this budget. Carlson Tong, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), said the budget's measures cover market reforms in the primary and secondary markets and across various asset classes, which will further consolidate Hong Kong's status as a leading global international financial center. The measures highlight the HKSAR government's resolve to enhance the long-term competitiveness, resilience and global influence of Hong Kong's financial markets, he added. Clara Chan, CEO of Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (HKIC), said the budget will further boost innovation and technology development and industrial clustering, helping to consolidate the foundation for HKIC's investment and industrial layout. She said HKIC will continue to play a leading role as patient capital, pool resources from international markets, facilitate the translation and application of cutting-edge technologies, and further develop Hong Kong into a global hub for patient and innovative capital. The measures will bring more business opportunities to the banking sector, help maintain a sound and sustainable financial system in Hong Kong, and enable finance to better serve the real economy and key competitive industries, said Sun Yu, vice chairman and chief executive of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited. Kelvin Wong, chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong, said the budget has set a clear development path for the financial industry, and injected new growth impetus into Hong Kong as a leading global international financial center by attracting quality enterprises to list, pooling global long-term capital and improving market efficiency. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)