Hong Kong government must guard against exploitation of diesel subsidy, experts warn

Hong Kong will directly pay diesel subsidies to local Oil Companies based on sales volume after lawmakers approved a massive HK$1.8 billion government scheme to ease rocketing fuel prices for the transport sector over the next two months.The city’s environment minister maintained that a mechanism would be in place so the government could “know” and “monitor” if the Oil Companies tried to abuse the scheme by increasing prices, but did not say how.Senior government officials briefed lawmakers at a Legislative Council Finance Committee meeting on Friday regarding the HK$1.8 billion emergency funding request for the diesel subsidy scheme, set to launch late this month. Officials said the subsidies would not be backdated, despite the funding being approved on Friday.