The deficit for the first half of Hong Kong's financial year, from April to September, stood at 22.7 billion HK dollars (2.91 billion US dollars), while fiscal reserves at the end of the period came to 252.6 billion.

According to a government press release on Saturday, government spending for the period was 118.2 billion HK dollars and its revenue totaled 95.5 billion HK dollars.

The revenue, and thus the deficit, takes into account the 6-billion-HK-dollar Toll Revenue Bond and 20-billion-HK-dollar government bonds and notes issued in May and July.

Some major revenue items including salaries and profit taxes are mostly received towards the end of a financial year. It is tooearly to draw any conclusion on the deficit outturn for the full year, said the press release.

Source:Xinhua