Pay freeze for Hong Kong civil servants, with 10,000 government posts to be axed

Hong Kong’s chief executive, civil servants and lawmakers will all have their pay frozen from April, while about 10,000 government posts will be axed as part of the measures to contain expenditure to tackle the city’s deficit.

A source told the Post that the axing of the posts would not necessarily cause lay-offs of civil servants, as it aimed to encourage bureaus to make use of technology to streamline or replace some of the roles.

“Regardless of increasing revenue or cutting expenditure, the impact to the general public should be minimised,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Wednesday, as he announced the measures in this year’s budget speech.

“In particular, the government will lead by example to demonstrate our commitment to cutting expenditure, whilst ensuring the delivery of high-standard public services.”

Chan said the pay freeze, to be introduced on April 1, would cover the chief executive, politically appointed officials, non-official members of the Executive Council, all civil servants, lawmakers and the Legislative Council secretariat, the chief justice, judges of all courts and all judiciary members, as well as district council members.

Asked whether senior government officials should have had their salaries cut rather than frozen, Chan said the decision was made after considering several factors, including the economic situation and residents’ income.