Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Algernon Yau briefed members of the Trade & Industry Advisory Board on the commerce and trade initiatives in the Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address at a meeting today.

Mr Yau noted that the Chief Executive has outlined a range of measures in the Policy Address to boost Hong Kong’s economy and support businesses, with a view to enhancing the city’s overall competitiveness.

Additionally, he highlighted the various measures for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in addressing the challenges faced by the city’s economy.

To grant enterprises more time to gradually switch to normal repayment after the application period of the principal moratorium arrangement under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme ended last month, the Government will provide more flexible repayment options so that enterprises may choose to repay only 10%, 20% or 50% of the original principal amount payable each month during the specified period.

Apart from establishing the E-commerce Development Task Force to implement policies that help SMEs develop e-commerce business, the Government suggested raising the statutory cap on the contingent liability of the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation from $55 billion to $80 billion to enhance its underwriting capacity.

As to the Government’s work on attracting enterprises and investment, Mr Yau said the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises set up last year has reached out to over 200 enterprises, of which 30 are planning to establish a foothold or expand their operations in the city. Such plans involve about $30 billion in new investment.

Furthermore, in the first nine months of this year, Invest Hong Kong assisted over 300 Mainland and overseas enterprises in establishing or expanding their operations in the city, representing an increase of more than 25% over the same period last year.