Funds to aid SMEs amounting to billions of dollars underused and badly managed, Hong Kong public spending watchdog finds
- Audit Commission report also notes that the funds are plagued by governance issues
Funds amounting to tens of billions dollars administered by the Trade and Industry Department were underutilised and poorly managed, the Hong Kong government’s auditor revealed on Wednesday.
Two funds in aid of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – the HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) SME loan guarantee scheme and the SME export marketing fund – recorded waning interest in the past decade, whereas the other two funds – a special loan guarantee scheme and the SME development fund – were poorly managed, according to the Audit Commission report.
The SME export marketing fund and SME development fund have a combined funding of HK$5.25 billion.
For example, the number of applications for the SME loan guarantee scheme dropped 46 per cent to 744 in 2017 from 1,381 in 2008.
The watchdog noted that the funds overall were plagued by governance issues. For example, the SME development fund, set up to subsidise projects by firms to boost their competitiveness, suffered from poor attendance by non-official committee members, who made up most of the panel.
