The 2000-01 Budget was announced on 8^th March 2000, and Hong Kong Policy Research Institute Ltd. (PRI) carried out the survey on the economic confidence indices of Hong Kong in the evenings of 8^th and 9^th March 2000. PRI also asked the opinions of the public concerning the Budget.

The survey results indicate that most of the confidence indices remain more or less the same, except the "Improvement of Unemployment Situation", "Hong Kong General Economic Situation", and the "Property Market" with significant improvement compared with the survey results in February 2000, and the increased percentages are 28.3%, 12.0%, and 10.4 % respectively (please refer to the table below). Among these 3 confidence indices, "Improvement of Unemployment Situation" reached new height after its establishment in 1996. Also, the "Hong Kong General Economic Situation" confidence index attained the highest point after October 1997. All these figures reflect that the public perceives the economic recovery is on its way.

Concerning the public's opinions of the 2000-01Budget, the results are indicated as below:

1. 39.8% of the respondents indicated that their confidence in the economy of Hong Kong increased due to the 2000-01Budget, and 50.1% of respondents claimed theirs remained more or less the same, and only 9.1% of respondents indicated that they decreased in confidence.
2. 44.7% of respondents indicated that they were satisfied with the 2000-01Budget, and 48.1% of respondents considered the Budget was average, and only 7.2% of respondents claimed that they were dissatisfied with the Budget.

The Economic Confidence Indices Survey is a telephone survey, and the respondents are the public of 18-64 years old. The distribution of sample age groups is based on the distribution of age groups of Hong Kong population. The total number of respondents of the survey in March is 801.