Hong Kong crisis will force budget deficits until 2025

Residents to get HK$10,000 after triple whammy of coronavirus, protests and trade war

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Demonstrators appear outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council building, where Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Wednesday delivered the annual budget. The deficit for the year ending March 2021 is expected to widen to a historical high. © Reuters

MICHELLE CHAN, Nikkei staff writer

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong is bracing for budget deficits for the next five years as the economy suffers under the weight of the new coronavirus outbreak, anti-government protests and the U.S.-China trade war.

Hong Kong's government on Wednesday said the budget deficit is on track to reach a historical high of 139.1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($17.9 billion), or 4.8% of annual gross domestic product, for the year ending March 2021, more than double the deficit for the 2001-02 fiscal year, which was the largest ever recorded.

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