The Hong Kong government will earmark HKD80 billion (USD10.31b) to help businesses and consumers in an effort to maintain Hong Kong's 1.5 percent rate of economic growth in the coming year, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said in his budget speech on Wednesday.

Tsang described the coming year as "difficult and thorny" given the bleak, uncertain economic outlook in Europe and the US.

Supporting private companies and securing jobs were his top priorities in his strategy to help the city get through a very difficult time, he told the Legislative Council.

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