Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Frederick Ma said on Saturday measures announced under the Chinese mainland's qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) scheme will enhance HK's position as an international financial hub.

Speaking on a radio talk show, Ma said the measures' impact on the stock market will be "psychological".

Noting there are risks in the investment market, he called on people to understand clearly their affordability and the products in which they plan to invest.

Turning to the budget, Ma pointed out its formulating mechanism has been refined to ensure accuracy, but differences between the estimates and final figures are unavoidable.

Noting a 14 billion HK dollars (1.79 billion U.S. dollars) surplus was recorded in 2005-06, which is 9.9 billion HK dollars ( 1.27 billion U.S. dollars) more than the 4.1 billion HK dollars ( 525.6 million U.S. dollars) surplus forecast in the 2006-07 budget, he said this is attributable to the market's buoyant performance in this year's first quarter.

Ma stressed the Financial Secretary will take into account the latest economic situation and different aspects when preparing the budget, adding the Government will be people-based and listen to citizens' views.

Source: Xinhua