No need for Hong Kong to match Singapore’s HK$400,000 birth perk, top official says

Hong Kong does not need to emulate Singapore’s generous childbirth incentives, a senior official has said, defending the city’s latest 11-measure policy drive as a “comprehensive” approach tailored to local needs across short-term cash flow, housing and childcare.

Addressing concerns that Hong Kong’s drive was too incremental compared with Singapore’s multi-tier sustained funding, Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing said on Tuesday that each jurisdiction has its own unique set of circumstances.

“Some people ask, ‘Why don’t you learn from Singapore by pledging a HK$400,000 package?’” he told a radio show. “We approach the matter in different ways and I think it is appropriate for us to launch the current 11 measures.”

Cheuk also rejected suggestions that Hong Kong’s package was “pretending to be generous at the expense of others”.