Hong Kong's deficit falls to $1.2 bln in November

HONG KONG, Dec. 31 (Chinese media) -- The deficit of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for the fiscal year's first eight months ending November fell to 9.3 billion HK dollars (1.2 billion U.S. dollars), revealed the latest official statistics here Wednesday.

The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau of HKSAR government said the HKSAR government collected 48 billion HK dollars (6.2 billion U.S. dollars) in November while spending 20 billion HK dollars (2.58 billion U.S. dollars), yielding a surplus of 28 billion HK dollars (3.62 billion U.S. dollars).

Attributing the improved financial results to profits tax, the bureau forecast the deficit for 2008-09 fiscal year will be higher than the 7.5 billion HK dollars (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) original estimate, taking into account the current financial position and economic outlook.

Spending for the April-November period was 171.4 billion HK dollars (22.14 billion U.S. dollars) while the revenue totaled 162. 1 billion HK dollars (20.94 billion U.S. dollars).

Fiscal reserves stood at 483.6 billion HK dollars (62.46 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of November.