'Govt To Dish Out Spending Vouchers Next Month'

The Financial Secretary on Monday said the government is still aiming to distribute the first batch of

– worth HK$5,000 – to some 6.3 million eligible residents next month, despite the worsening pandemic.

But Paul Chan stopped short of announcing when exactly the money will be dished out, saying the operations of many stakeholders involved in the scheme have been disrupted by the recent surge in Covid infections.

“That’s why to be prudent at this stage, we refrain from giving a specific date as to when this first batch of consumption vouchers will be made [available] – but our consideration is to do it as early as practically possible,” Chan told a press conference.

The finance chief announced in his budget last month that the administration will distribute HK$10,000 worth of electronic consumption vouchers to eligible residents – including permanent residents and new immigrants to the SAR who are aged 18 or above – to boost local consumption.

Similar to last year's scheme, people cannot spend the vouchers on personal transactions, or paying for public services, utilities, and fines.

Chan said those who’d signed up for last year’s handout will receive their first instalment of HK$5,000 via the same electronic payment system that they’d chosen – Octopus, Tap & Go, AlipayHK or WeChat Pay HK. 

Residents can switch to a different platform to spend the second instalment when it becomes available later in the year.

In addition to the existing platforms, officials said they're also looking into making available more options later.

When asked whether people who’ve left Hong Kong are qualified for the spending scheme, officials said individuals must have stayed in the SAR for at least one day in the past two years to be eligible. 

“Even when a person leaves Hong Kong, we don’t know when he or she will come back, so there’s no definition of whether a person has immigrated,” Jessie Wong, who heads the Budget and Tax Policy Unit of the Financial Secretary’s Office, said.