Paul Chan vows Hong Kong can handle debt of bond-driven growth

Hong Kong’s finance chief has assured the public that the city can manage its debt after proposing the issuance of more bonds to accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis, expressing confidence in the long-term investment returns from the megaproject.Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po sought to reassure the public during a radio programme on Friday after a university student voiced concerns that his generation might suffer if the city failed to repay the growing number of bonds issued by the current administration.In his latest budget, Chan proposed raising the borrowing cap of two bond programmes from HK$700 billion to HK$900 billion (US$89.4 billion to US$115 billion), describing this as a “balanced” approach that could fast-track the development of the Northern Metropolis and other public works projects.He explained on Friday that land revenue would no longer be sufficient to cover the government’s capital works expenditure, prompting the authorities to rely more on bond issuance to finance infrastructure investment.However, a caller, a university student surnamed Choi, told Chan he was concerned the government might struggle to repay the debt.“In like 10 or 20 years later, if your estimates are unfortunately found to be inaccurate and the economic returns are not as high as expected, then it is possible that Hong Kong would not be able to repay the bonds and it’s likely to burden my generation. I believe that no one wants this to happen,” he said.