While unveiling his Budget speech today, Financial Secretary Paul Chan highlighted the bold steps the Government is taking to strengthen Hong Kong’s foundation with the aim of accelerating the city’s development.

He explained that Hong Kong’s economy has recorded moderate growth for two consecutive years as the Government has been active in promoting innovation and technology (I&T) development, while striving to attract more enterprises, capital and investment institutions through diversified business promotion activities.

He pointed out that the Government’s efforts to build a vibrant economy and compete for enterprises and talent have yielded considerable results, including the city’s buoyant stock market.

Mr Chan said: “The sentiment and trading performance of the local stock market improved last year. Since the beginning of this year, trading has been even more active, with average daily turnover exceeding $200 billion recently, up by more than 50% over last year’s average. Total market capitalisation reached $40 trillion.”

When it comes to vibrant initial public offering (IPO) activities, he emphasised that enterprises are increasingly confident about Hong Kong’s financing prospects.

“Funds raised from new listings in Hong Kong amounted to $88 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of nearly 90% and ranking fourth globally. Over 100 new IPO applications are being processed by the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing.”

In addition to noting that Hong Kong’s expertise in wealth management is excellent, Mr Chan underlined that the city is expected to become the world’s largest cross‑boundary wealth management centre by 2028.

“Hong Kong is Asia’s largest hedge‑fund centre and the second‑largest centre for private equity management after the Mainland. There are more than 470 open‑ended fund companies in Hong Kong, double that of a year ago, and over 1,050 registered limited partnership funds, a year‑on‑year increase of about 40%.”

Additionally, Hong Kong is poised to attract enterprises, capital and talent on all fronts, the Financial Secretary said.

“Since its establishment, the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) has attracted 66 strategic enterprises, 80% of which have established or planned to establish their global or regional headquarters in Hong Kong. Many are I&T enterprises with a market valuation of over $10 billion and engaging in cutting-edge technologies.

“In addition, Invest Hong Kong successfully attracted over 500 Mainland and overseas enterprises to set up or expand their businesses in Hong Kong last year, representing an increase of over 40%. These enterprises are expected to bring in direct investment of over $67.7 billion.”

When it comes to attracting capital, Mr Chan revealed that at the end of last year, total deposits in Hong Kong amounted to more than $17 trillion, a year‑on‑year increase of 7%. As for attracting capital from emerging markets, two exchange-traded funds tracking Hong Kong stocks were listed on the Saudi Exchange last year, with asset size exceeding $13 billion.

The Government is also making a concerted effort to trawl for talent, he added.

“As at the end of last year, various talent admission schemes have received a total of over 430,000 applications and approved more than 270,000, bringing some 180,000 talents to Hong Kong.”

The Financial Secretary highlighted five examples of how the Government is proactively introducing additional measures to attract more enterprises or organisations to establish their presence in Hong Kong, bringing more mega events and visitors to the city.

OASES will announce a new batch of more than ten strategic enterprises next month. Together with those previously announced, they will invest a total of about $50 billion in Hong Kong and create more than 20,000 jobs over the next few years.

Mr Chan stated that the Government will strive to attract enterprises from the Mainland and around the world to set up headquarters or corporate divisions in Hong Kong.

“We have submitted a bill to the Legislative Council (LegCo) for the introduction of a company re‑domiciliation mechanism to provide facilitation for companies domiciled overseas to re‑domicile in Hong Kong.”

Furthermore, he announced that the headquarters of the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed) will open by the end of this year at the earliest.

“As the first international inter‑governmental organisation to set up its headquarters in Hong Kong, IOMed is also the first of its kind in the world that specialises in resolving international disputes by means of mediation. It is conducive to affirming the positioning of Hong Kong as the capital for international mediation.”

Another fine example is Kai Tak Sports Park, which is set to open officially in three days. In addition to providing a world‑class venue for hosting international mega events, taking forward the development of culture, sports and tourism as an industry in Hong Kong, it is also one of the event venues of the National Games.

Moreover, Mr Chan indicated that the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF)’s 2025 WTCF Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit will be held in Hong Kong for the first time in April. The summit is expected to attract representatives from some 40 countries and regions.