Hong Kong government spending in the first two months of the financial year amounted to 38.7 billion HK dollars (4.97 billion U.S. dollars) with revenue of 33 billion HK dollars (4.24 billion U.S. dollars), resulting in a 5.7 billion HK dollars (731.57 million U.S. dollars) deficit, Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said on Monday.

The bureau said a deficit in the initial months of a financial year is common as some major revenue items like salaries and profits taxes are mostly received towards the end of a fiscal year.

Hong Kong saw 18.3 billion HK dollars (2.35 billion U.S. dollars) in spending and 10.8 billion HK dollars (1.39 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in May, resulting in a deficit of 7.5 billion HK dollars (962.59 million U.S. dollars).

The fiscal reserves stood at 487.2 billion HK dollars (62.53 billion U.S. dollars) on May 31, the bureau said.