The Government announced today (January 28) that the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, has extended the appointment of Mr Clement Chan Kam-wing as the Inspector to investigate into the affairs of Next Digital Limited (NDL) by three months up to April 27, 2022. 
 
     Pursuant to the power conferred on him by sections 841(2) and (3) of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622), the Financial Secretary appointed Mr Chan on July 28, 2021, as the Inspector to investigate into the affairs of NDL, with a view to submitting a Final Report to the Financial Secretary in six months.
 
     On September 14, 2021, the Inspector submitted to the Financial Secretary an Interim Report which revealed, among other things, that NDL had been conducting its affairs in a manner unfairly prejudicial to the interests of its members generally. The Inspector also found NDL financially insolvent. Having regard to the above, the Financial Secretary, in consideration of the public interest, presented a petition on September 29, 2021, to wind up NDL. The Court subsequently appointed the requisite Provisional Liquidators and granted a winding up order against NDL on December 15, 2021.
 
     The Inspector recently reported to the Financial Secretary that information relevant to the investigation had yet to be fully obtained and scrutinised for preparing a comprehensive Final Report. The Financial Secretary considered it of utmost importance that the investigation be thoroughly conducted for the purpose of the Final Report. He has therefore decided to extend the Inspector's appointment by three months up to April 27, 2022, by which time the Final Report will also be submitted.

     The Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) announced today (January 28) that the disbursement of the one-off subsidy of $40,000 to each of the over 100 performing arts groups which are affected by the epidemic was completed.
 
     Separately, entrusted by the Government, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) and the Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong (Barwo) have started to disburse the one-off subsidy of $5,000 to each eligible individual arts practitioner and freelancer. As at yesterday (January 27), the HKADC and Barwo have disbursed subsidies to 1 275 persons.
 
     On the measure assisting the performing industry, the HAB has maintained close dialogue with the Performing Industry Association (Hong Kong) Limited (PIA) and expects that the PIA will disburse the one-off subsidy of $50,000 to each eligible company of the performing industry in batches starting from February.
 
     The HAB will follow up proactively on the progress of disbursement of subsidies, with a view to ensuring that the support measures would be able to assist the groups and persons concerned in a timely manner.
 
     The HAB announced on January 18 that the Arts and Culture Sector Subsidy Scheme under the fifth round of the Anti-epidemic Fund would provide a one-off subsidy of $40,000 to each of the over 100 performing arts groups which have been affected by the epidemic; and a one-off subsidy of $5,000 to each of the around 6 000 eligible individual arts practitioners and freelancers. At the same time, the HAB announced that a one-off subsidy of $50,000 would be provided to each of the around 80 eligible companies of the performing industry through the PIA.

     The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) announced today (January 28) that in view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the following 10 venues of the AMO will continue to be temporarily closed until February 17. The venues are the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Ping Shan Tang Clan Gallery cum Heritage Trail Visitors Centre in Yuen Long, Tai Fu Tai in San Tin, the Old House of Wong Uk Village in Sha Tin, No. 10 San Wai in Wong Chuk Hang, the Fortified Structure at Ha Pak Nai, the Fong Yuen Study Hall on Ma Wan, the Wun Yiu Exhibition at Sheung Wun Yiu Village in Tai Po, and the Information Centres of Tung Chung Fort on Lantau Island and Tung Lung Fort on Tung Lung Chau in Sai Kung.
      
     All educational activities, docent services and public programmes except online talks will be suspended during the closure period.
      
     The AMO will monitor the situation closely and review the arrangements in a timely manner. For enquiries, please call the AMO at 2208 4488.
     

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The Hospital Authority (HA) today (January 28) published both the latest quarterly issue of "HA Risk Alert" (HARA) as well as the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events as a risk management and communication initiative to further strengthen the incident reporting and sharing of lessons learnt for safety improvements in public hospitals.

     The HA spokesperson said that the latest issue of HARA reported three sentinel events with two cases of retained instrument or material after surgery/interventional procedure and one case of inpatient suicide. Among 24 reported serious untoward events, one was related to patient misidentification and the remaining cases were related to medication error.

     "Subsequent to incident review and root cause analysis of these incidents, important lessons of patient safety are identified, while recommendations are made and shared in this publication to reduce similar events in the future," the spokesperson added.

     The HA also released the Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events covering the 12 months from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. There were a total of 28 sentinel events and 94 serious untoward events reported during the period. Among the serious untoward events, there were 84 and 10 events related to medication error and patient misidentification respectively. The Report has been endorsed by the HA Board.

     The Annual Report on Sentinel and Serious Untoward Events is accessible to healthcare workers and the public through www.ha.org.hk/report/sentinel_event, while the HARA is distributed to the healthcare professionals in public hospitals and can be accessed by the public via www.ha.org.hk/riskalert. The next issue of HARA will be published on April 29.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
(Approved for Issue by the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee on January 25)

Report on Currency Board Operations (October 12 – December 24, 2021)
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     The Sub-Committee noted that the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) traded within a range of 7.7735 and 7.8032 against the US dollar (USD) during the review period. The HKD drifted lower in November and December amid softened equity market sentiment. Despite some increases amid tightened liquidity towards the year-end, HKD interbank interest rates (i.e. HIBORs) remained at low levels during the review period. Overall, the HKD exchange and interbank markets continued to trade in a smooth and orderly manner.

     The Sub-Committee noted that the Monetary Base edged up to HK$2,132.65 billion at the end of the review period. In accordance with the Currency Board principles, all changes in the Monetary Base had been fully matched by changes in foreign reserves.

     The Report on Currency Board Operations for the review period is at Annex.
 
Monitoring of Risks and Vulnerabilities
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     The Sub-Committee noted that the global economy continued to recover, but the pace of growth had slowed amid persistent supply bottlenecks and recurring COVID-19 outbreaks. Looking ahead, the global outlook was subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. In particular, the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant might lead to renewed lockdowns and exacerbate supply bottlenecks. This, together with rising rental costs and widespread labour shortages, could make US inflation stickier than expected, accentuating the risk of a premature financial tightening for emerging markets (EMs) as the Fed accelerated policy tightening. 

     In Mainland China, the economy faced downward pressures amid the softening housing market. Accordingly, Mainland authorities had set growth stabilisation as a policy priority. Amid the slower growth in the major economies, the rest of EM Asia might face weaker support from external demand, and corporates' profit margin might continue to face compression pressures.
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     The Sub-Committee further noted that in Hong Kong, the economy continued to recover in the fourth quarter of 2021, with both external and local demand growing at a solid pace. Nevertheless, the growth outlook for 2022 was subject to heightened uncertainty. Alongside a decline in the unemployment rate and rising external prices, local inflationary pressures would likely edge up in the near term, but should remain largely in check as local cost pressures remained tame. Amid softened asset market sentiment, secondary housing market transaction volume moderated in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Developments in the Mainland Property Market
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     The Sub-Committee noted a paper which sought to examine property market conditions in the Mainland.