The Hong Kong government has announced it will cut funding for major NGOs starting from 2025 amid two straight years of budget deficits over HK$100 billion.
Labour and welfare chief Chris Sun told reporters on Thursday the cutback would affect 59 large NGOs which currently received more than HK$50 million per year each, local media reported.
Funding for each affected group will be reduced by two per cent for the fiscal year 2025-26 and further decreased by three per cent for 2026-27. Another 118 mid-sized and small NGOs will not be affected.
“We’ve considered it thoroughly. While our financial situation is tight, we hope to help those NGO whose capability [for fundraising] is not so strong and do not have much room for manoeuvre,” Sun said in Cantonese, adding that he met executives of the affected NGOs on Wednesday to explain the cutbacks.
“We hope those groups can understand the government’s work, ” Sun said.
Hong Kong’s government has faced deficits since the fiscal year 2019-20. The city logged a shortfall of HK$122 billion in 2022-23. Presenting his latest budget in late February, financial chief Paul Chan said Hong Kong expected a HK$101.6 billion deficit in 2023-24 as land sales revenue dipped.
Chan said in the Legislative Council in late December that all government bureaus and departments would have to cut recurrent spending by one per cent in the coming two fiscal years.
More patriotic, more funding?
In another development the Social Welfare Department, which assesses and approves funding for NGOs, has rolled out new measure to encourage them to host more patriotic activities.
Ming Pao reported on Monday that the department had added new criteria for assessing funding applications – whether the applicants had hosted any activities to support or respond to government’s policies.
It said these included celebrations of the city’s handover to Beijing, events to mark the founding of the People’s Republic of China, or support for government social welfare policies.
The department confirmed the new measure with Ming Pao, adding that the new measure would ensure social welfare services were provided by patriotic and pro-government groups, a move which would benefit the general public and the disadvantaged.
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