Wednesday’s budget contained one-off sweeteners, and at the same time boosted recurrent expenditure in efforts to help the underprivileged.

There will be an HK$1,800 subsidy on residential electricity accounts, Financial Secretary John Tsang announced. The government estimated about 20 percent of households, who on average spend less than HK$150 per month on their power, will pay no electricity bills for at least a year. An expected 2.5 million households will benefit.

Rates will be waived for about 90 percent of the city’s 3 million properties for the entire financial year, 2012-2013. The waiver is capped at HK$2,500 per quarter on each property.

The government will provide an extra month’s allowance to the city’s 440,000 Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. The new measure was effective on Wednesday.

The government will also waive two months rent for public housing tenants. There will also be two months assistance on base rents for tenants required to pay extra rent to the Housing Authority, including two-thirds rent relief for non-elderly tenants of the Housing Society’s Group B estates for two months. The city’s 520,000 elderly on Old Age Allowance will receive an extra month’s allowance.

Recurrent expenditures on the Dementia Supplement will be increased by HK$137 million to a total of HK$208 million. Eligible residential care homes will receive HK$40,000 per year for every Alzheimer’s case in their care. The number is estimated at 4,500. Day care centers will receive an annual allocation of HK$24,000 for each elderly dementia sufferer. There are 450 such cases.

The government will also coordinate with the Lotteries Fund, which will appropriate HK$900 million to spend on improving the city’s 250 community or social centers for the elderly. Some of the centers have not been renovated for a decade, and need updating with safer equipment and better facilities. The renovations are expected to take five to six years.

An extra one month’s Disability Allowance will benefit 140,000 recipients.

Speaking after his budget speech, Tsang dismissed suggestions that the budget is long on one-off measures of limited benefit and short on long term planning to address the widening income gap.

“One-off measures, though accounting for a small portion of our gross financial expenditure, are designed every year based on changing needs and to help tackle current problems. Our recurrent expenditure on social welfare has reached a record high of HK$44 billion this financial year, 30 percent more than five years ago,” Tsang said.

Effective planning may prove difficult. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service pinpointed a serious shortage of elderly residential care homes. More than 26,000 elderly remain on waiting lists. The council also raised concern on the growing wealth gap, noting 23 percent of children and 33.4 percent of elderly people face poverty.

andrea@chinadailyhk.com