The Government released today (December 23) the "Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2019" (the Report). The key analyses (see Annex) were presented to the Commission on Poverty (CoP) at its online meeting held this afternoon.

     Adopting the analytical framework of the poverty line (PL) endorsed by the CoP, the Office of the Government Economist in collaboration with the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) updated and analysed the poverty statistics using data from the General Household Survey by the C&SD as the basis. This is the eighth annual update of the poverty situation analysis since the publication of the first official PL in 2013. The major findings were as follows:

• In 2019, the Hong Kong economy, hit by a double whammy of local social incidents and China-US trade tensions, fell into the first recession since the Global Financial Crisis in 2009. The labour market slackened noticeably in the second half. As the local social incidents caused severe disruptions and battered the consumption- and tourism-related sectors that involved substantial lower-skilled jobs, grassroots families were particularly hard-hit. All these unfavourable developments, coupled with an accelerated ageing trend and continued dwindling household size, exerted unprecedented upward pressure on the poverty indicators.

• The Government has allocated substantial resources to improve the livelihood of the disadvantaged, providing recurrent cash, non-recurrent cash and means-tested in-kind benefits (i.e. all selected measures). In 2019, the overall poor population and poverty rate stood at 641 500 persons and 9.2 per cent respectively after taking into account all the selected measures.  Compared with 2018, the size of the poor population increased slightly by 3 500 persons, and the poverty rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point. 

• However, the core analysis under the current PL analytical framework only takes into account the effect of the Government’s recurrent cash intervention. According to the main analytical framework, the poverty rate went up by 0.9 percentage point over 2018 to 15.8 per cent in 2019, while the poor population increased by 73 500 persons to 1 097 800 persons. 

• One of the major functions of the PL is to assess the poverty alleviation impact of policies. A comparison between the post-intervention poverty statistics and the purely theoretically assumed pre-intervention poverty statistics helps estimate the poverty alleviation impact of the Government’s measures. In this regard, the poverty alleviation impact of recurrent cash policies in 2019 was a record high since the publication of the PL in 2013.  Compared to the pre-intervention (purely theoretical assumption) figures in 2019 (with a poor population and poverty rate of 1 490 700 persons and 21.4 per cent respectively), recurrent cash measures successfully lifted 392 900 persons out of poverty and reduced the poverty rate by 5.6 percentage points, 0.1 percentage point higher than that in 2018.

• Amongst the recurrent cash measures, Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and Old Age Living Allowance yielded the most notable impact in alleviating poverty, lifting 155 200 persons and 154 400 persons respectively out of poverty in 2019, reducing the overall poverty rate by 2.2 percentage points each. The Working Family Allowance (WFA) lifted 47 600 persons (residing in 13 100 beneficiary households) out of poverty, reducing the overall poverty rate by 0.6 percentage point.

• It is noteworthy that over 35 per cent of the increase in poor population (post-recurrent cash policy intervention) in 2019 came from working households, somewhat different from the trend in previous years when increases in the size of poor population and poverty rate were mainly attributable to economically inactive households. This illustrated that the weakened economic environment with fewer job opportunities would have a negative bearing on the situation of working poor. The poverty rate of working households increased by 0.4 percentage point over 2018 to 8.4 per cent.

• Apart from recurrent cash measures, the Government also introduced various non-recurrent cash measures and means-tested in-kind benefits. While the impact of these measures in alleviating poverty is not reflected in the core analysis of the PL framework, their actual effect on poverty alleviation remains notable. In 2019, mainly owing to the one-off Caring and Sharing Scheme and the offering of an additional two-month payment of social security allowance, the WFA and Work Incentive Transport Subsidy , the poverty alleviation impact of non-recurrent cash policies (as compared to the pre-intervention (purely theoretical assumption) figures) increased notably from only 0.9 percentage point in 2018 to 2.1 percentage points in 2019, lifting 151 500 persons out of poverty. On the other hand, amongst the various means-tested in-kind benefits, the poverty alleviation impact of public rental housing (PRH) provision (as compared to the pre-intervention (purely theoretical assumption) figures) is the most notable, reaching 3.7 percentage points in 2019, up by 0.1 percentage point over 2018, lifting 261 000 persons out of poverty.

• The poverty statistics used for core analysis under the current PL analytical framework only take into account the effect of the Government’s recurrent cash intervention. The poverty alleviation impacts of other measures, such as Community Care Fund, PRH and cash benefits of one-off measures are presented as supplementary information for reference only. As for the wide range of non-means-tested services and measures, they are not covered in the PL analytical framework. Nonetheless, the existing PL analytical framework is a useful tool for examining the poverty situation in Hong Kong, providing a quantitative basis that is simple and easy to understand, with data and analyses cited by academia, think tanks and social welfare organisations. The Government and the CoP will continue to listen to views on the PL analytical framework and consider different proposals and recommendations on enhancing the framework to facilitate the public to understand the poverty situation in a more comprehensive manner. 

• This Report only covers the situation up to 2019, and is yet to reflect the negative impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on grassroots individuals in Hong Kong. In 2020, under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, both the global and Hong Kong economies were mired in an unprecedented recession and faced exceptionally high uncertainties. The pandemic has battered the already weak consumption- and tourism-related sectors, and in turn impacted further on the livelihoods of many grassroots workers and their family members amid the further deterioration in the labour market. The Government launched a series of one-off relief measures that amounted to over $300 billion in 2020 to help tide the community and various sectors over  the difficult times. However, given the current design of the PL framework, the effects of these one-off measures could not be completely reflected in the main poverty statistics next year. 

     The Report has been uploaded to the CoP’s dedicated website (www.povertyrelief.gov.hk). 

     Correctional officers at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, in accordance with intelligence, suspected that a person in custody had dissembled articles in the dayroom and took out some parts from his personal shaver and radio for illegal purposes. Institution management immediately monitored the person in custody and locations. During a raid at the dayroom, some homemade illegal articles, including a hot wire cutter and conductive devices, for unknown purposes were found. The person in custody was put under separation for investigation.

     The case has been reported to the Police for investigation.

     The person in custody was remanded for the offence of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or property.

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD), with the assistance of the Government Property Agency (GPA), has since the end of September been implementing a programme to purchase private premises for accommodating welfare facilities. The SWD announced today (December 23) that owners of potentially suitable non-domestic premises available for sale in Sham Shui Po District, Wan Chai District and Kwai Tsing District may submit their sale proposals to the GPA for consideration.
 
     "With funding approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, the Government is proceeding to purchase premises for the provision of welfare facilities, including child care centres, day care centres for the elderly, neighbourhood elderly centres and offices for on-site pre-school rehabilitation services, to help address the shortage of welfare premises," a spokesman for the SWD said.
 
     The SWD will purchase in batches accommodation for about 160 welfare facilities in 18 districts, as listed in the Annex.
 
     Target premises for purchase include commercial premises/offices (excluding Grade A office buildings in central business districts) or premises of revitalised industrial buildings.
 
     The GPA will assist the SWD to identify suitable premises. Information on the welfare facilities to be accommodated in the first batch of premises to be purchased and details on submission of sale proposals are now provided on the GPA's website (www.gpa.gov.hk/english/premises/invitation.html).
 
     "Owners of potentially suitable premises who may wish to offer their premises are invited to check the deadlines for submission of sale proposals for individual districts, as those submitted after the respective deadlines may not be considered by the Government," the spokesman added.

     Hong Kong Customs seized about 63 000 items of suspected counterfeit and smuggled goods with an estimated market value of about $5.7 million at the Tuen Mun River Trade Terminal on December 18.

     Through risk assessment, Customs officers on that day inspected a 40-foot container arriving in Hong Kong from Nansha, Guangdong. Upon inspection, Customs officers seized the batch of suspected counterfeit and smuggled goods in the container, including footwear, clothing and mobile phones and accessories.

     Initial investigations revealed that the batch of goods would have been re-exported to overseas countries.

     Investigation is ongoing.

     Customs will continue to strengthen co-operation with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies and take stringent enforcement action against cross-boundary counterfeit goods activities.

     Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person who imports or exports any goods to which a forged trade mark is applied commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

     Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected counterfeiting and smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).

  

     According to the statistics on Hong Kong innovation activities released today (December 23) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) of Hong Kong in 2019 amounted to $26,333 million, representing an increase of 8% when compared to the corresponding figure of 2018 ($24,478 million). The GERD as a ratio to the Gross Domestic Product in 2019 was 0.92%. Analysed by performing sector, the expenditure on research and development (R&D) activities performed in the business, higher education and government sectors amounted to $11,616 million, $13,432 million and $1,284 million respectively in 2019. 
 
     R&D activities refer to creative and systematic work undertaken so as to increase the stock of knowledge for devising new and improved products/processes/applications and improve existing products/processes/applications. 
 
     More detailed statistics on Hong Kong innovation activities, together with the concepts and methodology, are given in the report "Hong Kong Innovation Activities Statistics 2019". Users can download this report free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp120.jsp?productCode=B1110010). The report presents the latest statistics on R&D activities in Hong Kong, with analyses of R&D activities performed in the business, higher education and government sectors. It also contains detailed statistics on innovation activities (including product and business process innovation) in the business sector.
 
     Enquiries about the statistics on Hong Kong innovation activities can be directed to the Science and Technology Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 7290 or email: stb1@censtatd.gov.hk).