Hong Kong will cut thousands of civil service jobs and boost spending in artificial intelligence as it seeks to tackle an increasing deficit.

Hong Kong aims to cut spending by slashing 10,000 civil service jobs in an effort to rein in a rising deficit, and plans a big AI push as it navigates headwinds from global economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and a weak property market.

Hong Kong is set to reduce public recurrent expenditure by 7% by 2027/28 to curb a rising deficit while making a major push into artificial intelligence (AI) to counter global economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions,

HONG Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the economy will grow modestly this year, as he looks to shrink the city’s deficit while countering headwinds from a slowing Chinese economy and rising trade tensions with the US.

Hong Kong officials this week will unveil plans on how they’ll solve the mounting challenges facing Asia’s financial capital — chief among them slower growth and the longest string of fiscal deficits in two decades.