The budget from the government in Hong Kong today renewed the city’s bid to be a marine insurance powerhouse. While the Chinese city has lost out to many regional competitors for all sorts of maritime services in the past decade, authorities have highlighted marine insurance as a sector it can develop, offering many incentives in recent years.
Contained in today’s budget is news of a 50% profits tax concession to eligible insurance businesses including the marine insurance industry.
The local government also revealed today it has commissioned the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board to set up a dedicated task force to study tax and other measures, with a view to attracting ship finance companies to establish their presence in Hong Kong and developing Hong Kong as a ship leasing centre in the Asia-Pacific region. The study is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
“In the face of keen competition, we must leverage our advantages to seize the business opportunities brought by the Greater Bay Area development and the Belt and Road Initiative for the continuous development of high value-added maritime services,” read the budget statement issued today.
There was nothing new in the budget. All the initiatives had been made public by the Government back in August (FS) and at the October policy address by the CE.