The Immigration Department (ImmD) carried out a repatriation operation today (November 29). A total of 24 Vietnamese illegal immigrants were repatriated to Vietnam. The persons removed comprised 11 men and 13 women, all of which were unsubstantiated non-refoulement claimants. Among them were discharged prisoners who had committed criminal offences and had been sentenced to imprisonment.

     The ImmD will remain committed to expediting the removal process to repatriate illegal immigrants and overstayers from Hong Kong as soon as practicable according to the actual situation through appropriate measures as necessary.

    

     The Government welcomes the passage of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Taxation on Foreign-sourced Disposal Gains) Bill 2023 by the Legislative Council today (November 29). The Bill refines Hong Kong's foreign-sourced income exemption (FSIE) regime by expanding the scope of assets in relation to foreign-sourced disposal gains to cover assets other than shares or equity interests.

     The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, said, "With the passage of the Bill, Hong Kong's FSIE regime will be brought in line with the latest requirement of the Guidance on Foreign Source Income Exemption Regimes updated by the European Union (EU) in December 2022. Hong Kong's tax regime is further strengthened to counter cross-border tax avoidance and prevent double non-taxation.

     "Under the refined FSIE regime, foreign-sourced non-intellectual property (IP) disposal gains will continue to be exempt from tax if the multinational enterprise (MNE) entity has adequate economic substance in Hong Kong. For foreign-sourced IP disposal gains, the extent of the tax exemption will be determined by the nexus approach promulgated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. While the scope of assets in relation to foreign-sourced disposal gains is expanded, exemption and relief have been put in place to minimise the compliance burden of the affected MNE entities. This will maintain the tax competitiveness of Hong Kong."

     To provide the necessary continuity and tax certainty for taxpayers, other parts of the existing compliance framework of Hong Kong's FSIE regime will continue to apply to the refined FSIE regime. This covers the availability of double taxation relief and treatment of disposal loss as well as business facilitating measures to reduce compliance burden, enhance tax certainty and ensure tax transparency. For more details, please visit the webpage of the Inland Revenue Department on Foreign-sourced Income Exemption (www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/bus_fsie.htm).

     The refined FSIE regime will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2024. The Government will request the EU to swiftly remove Hong Kong from the EU watchlist on tax co-operation.

     The Civil Service College (CSC) today (November 29) held a talk of the series on the country's foreign affairs jointly with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (OCMFA) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The talk, on the topic of "The high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and policy recommendations for Hong Kong's participation in the Initiative", was delivered by the Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Mr Li Kexin. 

     Addressing the talk, the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, said that Hong Kong, with its distinctive advantages of enjoying strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world under the "one country, two systems" principle, has been playing the role of both a participant and an enabler of the Belt and Road Initiative. Hong Kong has been actively promoting exchanges and co-operation among participating countries and regions, aiming to achieve mutual benefits and win-win results. As an international financial centre, Hong Kong leverages its well established, comprehensive professional services and the unique advantage of the common law system, actively expanding co-operation with Belt and Road partners in such areas as economy and trade, innovation and technology, infrastructure development, among others. This talk will undoubtedly help civil servants acquire an accurate understanding of Hong Kong's significant role in the international platform of the Belt and Road Initiative, enabling them to better support the HKSAR Government in proactively integrating into the overall development of the country and furthering the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

     About 100 senior officials and civil servants in the directorate and senior ranks attended the talk at the CSC today.

     The CSC and the OCMFA have been jointly organising this series of talks on the country's foreign affairs since late 2021. This year's series includes the thematic briefing session on "International Landscape and China's Foreign Relations in 2023" and a number of talks on topics such as "China's Relations with Southeast Asian Countries" and the latest development of China-United States relations, etc. The talks are delivered by relevant officials of the MFA.

        

     â€‹The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, and the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, together with representatives from the four civil service central consultative councils and the four major service-wide staff unions, jointly visited a number of floors of the Queensway Government Offices (QGO) today (November 29) to promote the District Council (DC) election to colleagues and appealed to them to cast their votes with their families and friends on December 10.
      
     Also taking part in the departmental visits today were the Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Clement Leung, colleagues from the Civil Service Bureau, as well as representatives from various government departments.
      
     Mr Chan said, "With the new DC election approaching, civil servants have concerted their efforts and are determined to organise a decent election. They also encourage colleagues to vote together with their friends and relatives, so as to discharge their civic responsibility and support and accomodate the Government's governance. Today, together with representatives from the four civil service central consultative councils and the four major service-wide staff unions, I have visited and talked to colleagues from various government departments in the hope of continuing to widely disseminate the important message of supporting the DC election and voting together among civil servants."
      
     With only 11 days left before the DC election, bureaux and departments will continue to promote the message of supporting the DC election and voting together among colleagues in their workplace. A number of civil service volunteer teams will also reach out to the districts to strengthen the promotional work and appeal to all electors in Hong Kong to fulfil their civic responsibility and vote enthusiastically to elect DC members with capability, ambition and commitment to join hands in building DCs which work pragmatically for the benefit of the public, and to start a new chapter for good governance at the district level.
      
     The DC geographical constituencies, information on candidates, voting arrangements, etc, for the 2023 DC election are available at the thematic website (www.elections.gov.hk). The polling hours of DC geographical constituency ordinary polling stations on polling day will be from 8.30am to 10.30pm.

          

     According to the results of the 2022 Annual Survey of Economic Activities – Building, Construction and Real Estate Sectors released today (November 29) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the construction sector’s total receipts (comprising gross value of construction works performed and other business receipts) amounted to $411.1 billion in 2022, representing an increase of 3.8% over 2021; on a per establishment basis, total receipts was $15.5 million in 2022, increased by 2.1% over 2021.

     Operating expenses and compensation of employees of the construction sector altogether amounted to $376.4 billion in 2022, representing an increase of 2.6% over 2021; on a per establishment basis, they were $14.2 million in 2022, increased by 0.9% over 2021.

     Gross surplus of the construction sector, which is equal to total receipts less operating expenses and compensation of employees, increased by 19.0% over 2021 to $34.7 billion in 2022; on a per establishment basis, gross surplus increased by 17.1% over 2021, to $1.3 million in 2022.  Gross surplus accounted for 8.4% of total receipts in 2022, up by 1.1 percentage points over 2021.

     Industry value added of the construction sector, which is a measure of its contribution to Hong Kong’s Gross Domestic Product, increased by 6.3% over 2021 to $121.8 billion in 2022; on a per establishment basis, the industry value added was $4.6 million in 2022, representing an increase of 4.6% over 2021.

     In 2022, there were some 26 600 establishments in the construction sector, which directly engaged about 186 900 persons, or an average of 7.0 persons per establishment.

     The survey did not cover labour-only sub-contractors that mainly supplied labour to work on a job-to-job basis, owing to practical consideration in data collection. The employment figures above mainly covered direct employees of the construction establishments and did not reflect the labour input through the sub-contracting activities of labour-only sub-contractors.

     Apart from the construction sector, the survey also enumerated establishments engaged in real estate activities; and architectural, surveying and engineering services.

     Total receipts (comprising gross margin of real estate development projects, service and rental income and other business receipts) of establishments engaged in the real estate activities (including real estate development, real estate leasing, real estate brokerage and agency, and real estate maintenance management) amounted to $174.3 billion in 2022, representing a decrease of 2.9% compared with 2021. Operating expenses and compensation of employees altogether amounted to $90.7 billion in 2022, representing an increase of 4.5% over 2021. Gross surplus decreased by 12.3% compared with 2021 to $75.4 billion in 2022. Gross surplus accounted for 43.3% of total receipts in 2022, down by 4.6 percentage points compared with 2021. Industry value added decreased by 7.6% compared with 2021 to $111.4 billion in 2022.

     In 2022, the real estate activities comprised some 10 900 establishments and engaged about 122 800 persons, or an average of 11.3 persons per establishment.

     The total number of private real estate projects ever operated in 2022 was 289. As at end-2022, 227 projects, which were expected to provide a total 8.9 million square metres of gross floor area of buildings when completed, were still under construction. Among them, 10% were on Hong Kong Island, 41% in Kowloon and 49% in the New Territories and outlying islands.

     The survey excluded establishments which developed real estate projects for their own use as well as those which owned land but had not developed it during the reference year. Real estate leasing and other related activities undertaken by individuals or firms which engaged less than two persons (except for subsidiaries of real estate enterprises) were also not covered in the survey.

     Total receipts (comprising service income and other business receipts) of establishments engaged in the architectural, surveying and engineering services amounted to $26.7 billion in 2022, representing an increase of 5.7% over 2021. Operating expenses and compensation of employees altogether amounted to $22.9 billion in 2022, representing an increase of 4.6% over 2021. Gross surplus increased by 13.1% over 2021 to $3.8 billion in 2022. Gross surplus accounted for 14.1% of total receipts in 2022, up by 0.9 percentage point over 2021. Industry value added increased by 5.2% over 2021 to $18.7 billion in 2022.

     In 2022, the architectural, surveying and engineering services comprised some 2 400 establishments and engaged about 27 400 persons, or an average of 11.5 persons per establishment.

     Selected statistics for the building, construction and real estate sectors, with breakdowns by industry grouping, are shown in the attached table.

     More detailed survey results on the building, construction and real estate sectors will be given in the report "Key Statistics on Business Performance and Operating Characteristics of the Building, Construction and Real Estate Sectors in 2022". Users can browse and download this report at the website of C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1080011&scode=330) as from end-December 2023.

     For enquiries about the key statistics on business performance and operating characteristics of the building, construction and real estate sectors, please contact the Construction and Miscellaneous Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 3903 6964; email: building@censtatd.gov.hk).