Hui Ying-fai: The Hong Kong government will inject over HK$3 billion into the "BUD Special Fund" in the next two years to provide extensive support to enterprises.

On October 15, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong, Edward Yau Tang-wah, replied to questions from legislators, stating that the "BUD Special Fund" has been actively supporting small and medium-sized enterprises for many years, with multiple rounds of optimization measures introduced during this period. As an important policy supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, the government will inject over HK$3 billion into the "BUD Special Fund" in the current and next financial years, ensuring the financial sustainability of the funding program to provide support to more enterprises and maintain a broad beneficiary base. Yau Tang-wah mentioned that the "Brand Development, Upgrading and Domestic Sales Market Expansion Fund" (BUD Special Fund) is one of the measures the government has implemented to support small and medium-sized enterprises, aimed at supporting local businesses in upgrading, transforming, and expanding into diversified markets. From its establishment in 2012 to September 2025, the "BUD Special Fund" has approved nearly 12,000 applications, with a total funding of approximately HK$7.5 billion benefiting around 7,800 enterprises. The government has optimized the "BUD Special Fund" multiple times since 2018, including injecting HK$7.7 billion, expanding the coverage of funding regions, gradually increasing the cumulative funding limit for each enterprise from HK$500,000 to HK$7 million, and introducing "Easy Application" and "E-commerce Easy" initiatives. The "Easy Application" initiative was launched in June 2023 to expedite the approval process for applications involving specific measures with funding amounts of HK$100,000 or less. The application form, required supporting documents, and approval arrangements have been simplified, and the processing time has been reduced by half to 30 working days compared to the general application timeline of the "BUD Special Fund." By the end of September 2025, "Easy Application" had approved 760 applications, with an average funding amount of approximately HK$72,000. Maintaining the current funding ceiling of HK$100,000 per application is believed to meet the needs of most enterprises. Furthermore, to ensure prudent use of public funds, when setting the funding cap for each application under "Easy Application," a delicate balance between funding amount and potential financial risks must be considered. In addition, to help enterprises quickly access funding to cope with the changing economic environment, Hong Kong has optimized the arrangements of "Easy Application" since March 2025, allowing each enterprise to submit an application every three months instead of every six months, and introducing measures to establish online sales platforms for eligible projects. With the significant increase in enterprises' demand for government funding in recent years, the number of applications for the "BUD Special Fund" in 2024 increased by over 320% compared to 2019. Nearly 90% of the fund's support was approved in the past six years (2019-2024). To ensure the financial sustainability of the "BUD Special Fund," the government introduced measures in March 2025, including adjusting the funding ratio to 1 (government): 3 (enterprise). This aims to encourage enterprises to carefully select appropriate and cost-effective projects and be more willing to allocate resources. These measures were just introduced in March 2025 and will be reviewed for effectiveness before any adjustments to the funding ratio are planned. Furthermore, Hong Kong is discussing investment agreements with various economies, with negotiations for an investment agreement with Qatar largely completed. Both parties will sign the agreement after completing the necessary internal procedures. As Hong Kong signs more free trade agreements or investment agreements in the future, the geographical scope of the "BUD Special Fund" funding will expand further. Since March 2025, Hong Kong has also expanded the coverage of "E-commerce Easy" funding to the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In addition to optimizing "Easy Application" and "E-commerce Easy," Hong Kong has also provided targeted funding for enterprises to implement green transformation projects and specified professional service fees for setting up new business units as eligible projects. This aims to assist enterprises in restructuring their supply chains to address the challenges posed by trade wars.