Hong Kong Economy Improves, Civil Servants' Salaries Uniformly Raised by 2%

(Central News Agency reporter Chang Chien, Hong Kong, 16th) As Hong Kong's economy improves, the salaries of over 170,000 civil servants will be uniformly raised by 2% in the new fiscal year.

The Civil Service Bureau announced today that the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Executive Council, has decided to uniformly increase the salaries of senior, mid-level, junior, and directorate-grade civil servants by 2% for the 2026-27 fiscal year, effective retroactively from April 1 of this year.

The announcement stated that this salary adjustment fully considered various factors, including responses from employee representatives, economic conditions, cost-of-living changes, government financial status, private-sector pay trends, and civil servant morale.

This salary adjustment proposal still requires review and approval by the Legislative Council.

In early 2020, Hong Kong suffered a severe economic shock from the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to years of economic downturn and government fiscal deficits. To reduce expenditures, the government froze civil servant salaries last year and cut certain welfare benefits.

In recent years, the local economy has gradually recovered. In the first quarter of this year, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.9% year-on-year, marking the strongest quarterly growth in nearly five years.

With economic improvement, Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced at the beginning of the year that the 2026-27 operating account (recurring revenue and expenditure) would return to surplus. (Edited by Chu Chien-ling) 1150616

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