Hong Kong's economy will see better growth if the Government is willing to spend more and invest more.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam made the statement today to the media during her visit to Thailand, in response to recent debate on fiscal policy.
When asked about Executive Council member Joseph Yam's views on current fiscal policy in his blog, Mrs Lam said she welcomes policy discussion.
Mrs Lam said her perspective differs from the current fiscal policy, which is based on the previous administration's Long-Term Fiscal Planning Report.
"It is not a question of overturning the conclusion of the report. But that report is a piece of work on projections based on certain assumptions. And I am just telling you that those assumptions could be changed with a change in policy."
She said if the Government can increase fiscal spending and investment it will benefit the local economy and allow it to collect more revenue.
"Similarly if we are prepared to spend more on preventive care, on primary healthcare, on community and home-based care for the elderly, then we could reduce the rate of hospitalisation, so the assumption that we would need to double or triple hospital expenditure for caring (for the) elderly may not be true," she added.
