THE Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive (CE) Carrie Lam said yesterday that more relief measures will be rolled out soon to help businesses and residents weather out economic hardship, following three rounds of such policies adopted during the past months.

As multiple data sources have revealed a grim economic circumstance, the HKSAR Government will closely monitor the situation and carry out new relief measures, Lam told a press conference.

Despite possible fiscal deficits in the coming one or two years, it is high time the HKSAR Government made full use of the wealth and surplus accumulated in the past to relieve the burden on residents, Lam said.

The HKSAR Government has allocated about HK$20 billion (US$2.55 billion) in total since August to bolster the economy.

The prolonged social unrest has bitten into the economy. The GDP dropped 2.9 percent year on year in the third quarter. Retail sales in October slumped 24.3 percent from a year ago, the largest decline on record. The jobless rate spiked to 3.1 percent and will likely rise further.

Lam said she hopes violent incidents will stop as soon as possible to give the economy a chance to recover.

Multiple districts in Kowloon descended again into chaos over the weekend as rioters hijacked public events and resorted to destructive acts like building barricades on roads, setting fires and vandalizing public facilities.

Lam also said that the Hong Kong-related act recently passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the U.S. president is “completely unnecessary and unjustifiable.”

Lam said the HKSAR Government strongly opposes the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, and regards it as a “very regrettable” move by a foreign legislature and administration to interfere in Hong Kong affairs through their own legislation.

Stressing that the human rights and freedom of Hong Kong residents are well protected by the HKSAR Basic Law, Lam pointed out “we enjoy a high degree of freedom in many aspects, including freedom of press, freedom of assembly and demonstration, as well as religious freedom.”

Lam noted that the major chambers of commerce here have been strongly opposing the act, adding that the act may even bring harm to U.S. companies, considering that there are more than 1,300 U.S. enterprises that have operations or even regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

As for the suspension of reviewing applications to visit Hong Kong by U.S. military ships and aircraft and the sanctions against some U.S. nongovernmental organizations announced by the Central Government on Monday, Lam said the Central Government shall be responsible for the foreign affairs related to the HKSAR, and the HKSAR will cooperate and follow up in accordance.

(Xinhua)