Tenure As Financial Secretary
When in office, he proposed, in 2001, to cut the salaries of civil servants by 4.5%. However, in the face of strong opposition, the cut was reduced to 1.8–2.3% and enacted through legislation. After that, the government proposed a further 3% in salary cuts over the following 2 years, 2005 and 2006.
He also stated that the government should succeed in balancing the budget by the 2006–07 fiscal year due to the recovery of the economy and further cuts in government expenditure. He claimed that it was necessary to balance the budget as quickly as possible so as to maintain the stability of the economy. He suggested expenditure cuts in different sectors, including university funding.
In September 2002, new HK$10 notes were co-issued by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong government in response to the problem of fake 10-dollar coins. About 10 special features were applied to the new notes.
By the end of 2002, in response to the "penny stock" incident, he set up a 2-person commission, of which he was in charge, to investigate the incident.
Read more about this topic: Antony Leung
Famous quotes containing the words tenure, financial and/or secretary:
“A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.”
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“The truth is, the whole administration under Roosevelt was demoralized by the system of dealing directly with subordinates. It was obviated in the State Department and the War Department under [Secretary of State Elihu] Root and me [Taft was the Secretary of War], because we simply ignored the interference and went on as we chose.... The subordinates gained nothing by his assumption of authority, but it was not so in the other departments.”
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