Financial Secretary | |
---|---|
財政司司長 | |
since 16 January 2016 | |
Style | The Honourable |
Member of | Executive Council |
Reports to | Legislative Council |
Residence | 45 Shouson Hill Road |
Appointer | State Council of the People's Republic of China nomination by Chief Executive |
Term length | No longer than the Chief Executive's remaining term |
Inaugural holder | Sir Donald Tsang |
Formation | 1 July 1997 |
Salary | HK$4.3 million p.a.[1] |
Website | fso |
Politics and government of Hong Kong |
Related topics Hong Kong portal |
Financial Secretary | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 財政司司長 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 财政司司长 | ||||||||||||
|
The Financial Secretary is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters (“Department of Finance” per Article 60 of the Basic Law). The position is among the three most senior Principal Officials of the Government, second only to the Chief Secretary in the order of precedence (but not subordinate to the CS). Together with other secretaries, the Financial Secretary is accountable to the Legislative Council and the Chief Executive (the Governor before the 1997 handover) for his actions in supervising the formulation and implementation of financial and economic policies.
The position evolved out of the office of the Colonial Treasurer before 1940. The Financial Secretary is a member of the Executive Council, and gives advice to the Chief Executive in that capacity. He is also responsible for delivering the annual budget to the Legislative Council. To date, it is the only office among the three highest Principal Officials of the Government (Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, and Secretary for Justice) not to have been occupied by a woman.
The incumbent Financial Secretary is Paul Chan Mo-po.