The first installment of HK$3,000 will be distributed to electronic wallets registered by residents in April. The remainder will be handed out towards the middle of the year.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan has announced that Hongkongers are yet to receive another round of consumption vouchers for HK $5000.
He further added that the permanent residents and new arrivals in the city can have the advantage of the budget delivered in 2023 at the legislature on Wednesday morning.
The first installment was about HK $3000 that will be distributed to electronic wallets registered by residents in April. One more remainder will be handed out in the middle of the year.
Migrant domestic workers were not eligible to take advantage of consumption vouchers last year. It made the migrants so angry that they gave advocates the term ‘heartless’. Last year non-permanent residents were given a chance for the first time to use these vouchers.
The government has provided voucher handouts every year since 2020 in a bid to ease economic woes brought on by Covid-19. In 2020, Hong Kong residents received HK$10,000 in the form of a transfer to their bank accounts. Over the past two years, authorities distributed HK$5,000 and HK$10,000, respectively, to online payment accounts in an effort to encourage spending at local businesses.
Mixed views
Last month, pro-Beijing parties such as the DAB and Federation of Trade Unions called for another round of consumption vouchers to boost the ailing economy, in addition to the Democratic Party.
However, Regina Ip of the pro-Beijing New People’s Party said last month that she did not think the city should repeat the scheme as “government resources are limited.”
Last year, the government shrugged off suggestions from the public that the handouts should be delivered in the form of cash rather than consumption vouchers so that residents – particularly those with low incomes – could use them for expenses such as rent and bills.
- Published By Team Hongkong Journalist
