Lawmakers Welcome Handout, Fret Over Costs

Lawmakers have broadly welcomed the government’s decision to give cash handouts of up to HK$4,000 to some 2.8 million Hong Kong residents, saying the Financial Secretary Paul Chan has done well to address the problems in his budget.

After enduring weeks of complaints from members of the public and politicians from both sides of the political divide, Chan announced early on Friday afternoon that all permanent residents aged 18 or above who were left out of his earlier giveaways will get HK$4,000, while even those who were promised ‘sweeteners’ can apply for top-up payments if they got less than HK$4,000 in benefits.

One of the more vocal critics of Chan’s budget, New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip, changed her tune after the announcement, saying she thinks the financial secretary “will learn from experience.”

She said while Chan “has done well in investing in the future and helping the poor and the needy, he has come short in sharing the benefits of economic growth, and we are very glad that he has redressed this problem.”

Democratic Party leader Wu Chi-wai also welcomed the announcement, saying the initiative will narrow the gap between the benefits given to the rich and the poor. However, he pointed out that the HK$4,000 handouts are still considerably less than the HK$6,000 his party had called for.

As to whether the Democrats will now vote to approve the budget, following an earlier threat to vote against it, Wu said that will depend on the government’s responses to their queries in the upcoming Legco debate.

Despite the generally positive sentiment among lawmakers, some councillors expressed concerns about the potentially enormous administrative costs of administering the ‘New Caring and Sharing Scheme’.

Chan repeatedly refused to answer reporters’ questions on how much the administrative costs will come to, saying only that the value of the handouts themselves will total around HK$11 billion.

He also said new staff will have to be recruited and an upgraded computer system will also be needed to run the scheme.

DAB party chairwoman Starry Lee said she hopes the government can minimise administrative costs by, for example, asking people to declare the benefits they receive and carrying out random checks, instead of having to proactively verify everyone’s claims.

Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung said that to implement similar measures last time, the government spent HK$100 million as administrative cost.

"This mechanism is even more complicated. So the government has a duty to explain to Hong Kong people how much they are going to spend on [this]," he said.