Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s latest budget unveiled on Wednesday might not have pleased everyone, but the new vision for bolstering Hong Kong’s prosperity he outlined should be reassuring to everyone who has the city’s overall well-being in mind.

The new vision palpably emphasizes the need to pursue high-quality economic development, which sets this budget apart from previous ones. 

The imperative for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to proactively pursue high-quality development has never been more conspicuous than now. Global competition has greatly intensified, threatening the city’s competitiveness in many areas; thanks to its seemingly irremediable resource constraints, the city’s drive to expand its narrow economic base by diversifying its industries has not gained much ground following years of effort. Conceivably, high-quality development is the logical and only approach for Hong Kong to take to overcome its development bottlenecks and thus sustain the city’s long-term prosperity.

The specific measures introduced in the new budget to boost the development of the city’s digital economy, green technology, green finance and other innovation and technology sectors, as well as to attract strategic enterprises and talents, will go a long way to facilitate the city’s high-quality economic development.  

The emphasis on high-quality development is also appreciably intended to align with national development strategies. In the face of growing geopolitical tensions, deglobalization, unilateralism and decoupling efforts targeting China, the central authorities have made high-quality development a priority of the nation’s modernization drive, a shift which was confirmed at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October last year.

Hong Kong has outshined most if not all jurisdictions that were once ruled by the British and now practice common law in terms of economic development, thanks to the unique role the city has been playing in serving the various needs of the Chinese mainland. This alignment of development models is essential to maintaining the symbiotic relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland, and for the SAR to continue to participate in and benefit from national development — particularly the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Another important takeaway from the financial chief’s new budget is the HKSAR government’s strong determination to depart from its traditional “positive noninterventionist” governance philosophy. This is evidenced by the fact that the financial chief came up with another deficit budget to bail out businesses and households hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to sustain the impetus to economic recovery. It is heartening that more than 80 percent of the resources allocated for the budget initiatives will benefit the general public and small and medium-sized enterprises.  

The deficit budget is further evidence that the John Lee Ka-chiu administration has put into practice the proactive governance philosophy he promised to adopt during his election campaign. 

The assurance of better integrating a “capable government” with an “efficient market” is in line with the central government’s expectations for Hong Kong to play a bigger role in national development, as well as for the HKSAR government to improve governance, strengthen the momentum of development, solve people’s livelihood problems and uphold harmony. Confronted by daunting challenges brought about by growing geopolitical tensions and some deep-seated problems, only a capable government with a proactive governance philosophy is up to the task of leading the special administrative region out of the woods.

The “moderately liberal” fiscal stance the financial chief has adopted in formulating his latest budget is reasonable and pragmatic. It allows the government to come up with another generous bailout package for both enterprises and households, recognizing the difficulties and hardships they are still enduring after three years of the pandemic. It has also taken into consideration the fact that the government should be able to achieve a budget surplus in the coming four years, with the exception of a deficit in 2023‑24, according to the government’s medium-range forecast.  

All in all, the new budget is a balanced one, taking into consideration both the short-term need for bailout measures to relieve businesses and residents from the predicaments caused by the pandemic and the medium-term needs for promoting Hong Kong’s socioeconomic development, particularly high-quality development.

The author is a current affairs commentator. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.