On October 15, Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Qiu Yinghua responded to legislative inquiries, stating that the "BUD Special Fund" has been actively supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for many years, during which multiple rounds of optimization measures have been introduced. As an important policy supporting SMEs, the government will inject a total of over HK$3 billion into the "BUD Special Fund" over the current and next financial years, ensuring the financial sustainability of the funding scheme to enable more enterprises to receive support and maintain broad coverage of beneficiaries.
Qiu Yinghua mentioned that the "Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales" (BUD Special Fund) is one of the government's measures to support SMEs, aimed at helping local enterprises upgrade and transform while expanding diversified markets. From its establishment in 2012 to September 2025, the BUD Special Fund has approved nearly 12,000 applications, involving total funding of approximately HK$7.5 billion, benefiting about 7,800 enterprises.
Since 2018, the government has repeatedly optimized the BUD Special Fund, including injecting a total of HK$7.7 billion, expanding the geographical scope of funding, progressively increasing the cumulative funding ceiling per enterprise from HK$500,000 to HK$7 million, and launching "Application Express" and "E-commerce Express" initiatives.
"Application Express" was launched in June 2023, designed to expedite the approval of applications involving specific measures with funding amounts of HK$100,000 or below. Its application forms, required supporting documents, and approval arrangements have all been simplified, with application processing time significantly reduced by half compared to the general BUD Special Fund application service commitment, completing within 30 working days. As of the end of September 2025, "Application Express" has approved 760 applications, with an average funding amount of approximately HK$72,000. It is believed that maintaining the current funding ceiling of HK$100,000 per application can meet the needs of most enterprises. Additionally, to ensure proper use of public funds, careful balance between funding amounts and potential financial risks must be considered when setting the ceiling for "Application Express" applications.
Furthermore, to enable enterprises to obtain funding more quickly in response to the changing economic environment, Hong Kong has optimized the "Application Express" arrangement since March 2025, relaxing the previous requirement of one application per enterprise every six months to one application every three months, while also adding the establishment of online sales platforms as a fundable project measure.
With enterprise demand for government funding rising sharply in recent years, BUD Special Fund applications in 2024 increased by over 320% compared to 2019, with nearly 90% of the fund's assistance approved in the most recent six years (2019 to 2024). To ensure the financial sustainability of the BUD Special Fund, the government introduced measures in March 2025, including adjusting the fund's funding ratio to 1 (government): 3 (enterprise), hoping that enterprises will more carefully select appropriate and cost-effective projects and be more willing to invest resources. As these measures were just launched in March 2025, time is needed to review their effectiveness, so there are no plans to adjust the fund's funding ratio at present.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong is exploring investment agreements with multiple economies, with negotiations for an investment agreement with Qatar substantially completed. Both parties will sign the agreement after completing their respective internal procedures. As Hong Kong signs more free trade agreements or investment agreements in the future, the geographical scope of BUD Special Fund funding will be further expanded. Hong Kong has also expanded the geographical scope of "E-commerce Express" funding to include 10 ASEAN countries since March 2025.
In addition to optimizing "Application Express" and "E-commerce Express," Hong Kong has also provided more targeted funding for enterprises to implement green transformation projects and specified professional service fees related to establishing new business units as fundable projects, helping enterprises restructure their supply chains to address challenges brought by trade wars.