Hong Kong’s technology enterprises are set to benefit from the city’s annual budget as the government plans to roll out investments in artificial intelligence research.

Hong Kong is expected to focus on steps to curb spending in its annual budget on Wednesday, as it seeks to tackle a fiscal deficit likely to have widened to double the city's target amid rising global economic uncertainty and a weak property market.

On February 26, Hong Kong financial secretary Paul Chan delivered the 2025-26 Hong Kong budget report – which sees a turquoise cover this year to symbolise a ‘blue ocean of opportunities’ – detailing a series of measures and budget plans to manage public finances and tackle Hong Kong’s economic challenges:

Hong Kong officials this week will unveil plans on how they’ll solve the mounting challenges facing Asia’s financial capital — chief among them slower growth and the longest string of fiscal deficits in two decades.

This year’s Budget outlines measures for talent attraction and development, tax support, as well as a reinforced fiscal consolidation programme, which includes reducing the civil service establishment and implementing a pay freeze.

Hong Kong’s finance chief Paul Chan has announced reductions in both salary and profits tax cuts in his latest budget speech. In the coming fiscal year, salaries tax, as well as tax under personal assessment,