Cash Handouts Won't Be Red Tape Nightmare: Govt

Government officials have sought to play down concerns that working out who is – and who is not – eligible for planned cash handouts will cost huge sums of money, and that applicants will struggle to deal with the red tape required.

Around 2.8 million adults who don't benefit directly from this year's budget will be able to get payments of HK$4,000, the government announced last week.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Sunday that the administrative costs will depend on the number of applicants and he expects the final figure to amount to a "few tens of millions of dollars".

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said officials will try to make the application procedures as simple as possible.

Cheung said the public can expect to have to prepare only a small amount of documents in order to apply for the money.

But he said he couldn't set out at this point exactly what paperwork will be required as it will take time for officials to iron out the details of the plan.