When being asked in what way the government could assist small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, indirectly-elected lawmakers José Chui Sai Peng and Ip Sio Kai agreed yesterday that a higher vaccination rate could help economic recovery.
Chui and Ip made the remarks when attending a current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM.
Chui added that a higher vaccination rate would give the Macau government greater bargaining power when negotiating the lifting of mandatory quarantine between Macau and Hong Kong. They both urged resident to swiftly get vaccinated. Ip also said that the recent COVID-19 pandemic development had “let down” SMEs, and the closing down of SMEs had caused a “domino effect”. Ip urged the government to collaborate with banks to financially assist local SMEs in cashflow problems in order to improve their resilience while facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Callers-in voiced concern about the difficulty of getting employed in Macau, and Ip said that the most crucial step at the moment was to keep the SMEs alive, in order to give families and shop owners a sense of security. Ip also said that he hoped the government could allow the businesses to only pay the interest of their government-granted loans for another year, and make the payback period more flexible.
Another caller expressed the expectation that the government would not hand out the annual wealth-sharing cash to residents who live overseas. Chui reminded the caller that the cash handout was meant to be sharing wealth from the government’s tax revenue as a way to celebrate Macau’s government economic success. However, Chui added that residents were taking the cash handout for granted and now that Macau’s economy is not as good as before, he urged the government to reconsider the wealth-sharing cash handout scheme. He also expressed the hope that the government could communicate with residents to amend the scheme in a way that would benefit civil society the most.
Meanwhile, when talking about the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Chui said he believed that the cooperation zone is a way to “test the waters” on whether Macau can adapt to the mainland’s system, adding that the zone could help Macau take a step further. He also expressed hope that the government could be more efficient when monitoring the zone’s development plan in the future.
Ip said that the plan could help Macau develop and gain more opportunities. He pointed out that the grand idea was to amend the existing financial sector laws to optimise the city’s finance system. He said he expected the zone to help diversify Macau’s economy.
Indirectly-elected lawmakers José Chui Sai Peng (left) and Ip Sio Kai attend yesterday’s current affairs phone-in programme hosted by Ou Mun Tin Toi, the Chinese-language radio channel of government-owned broadcaster TDM. Photo courtesy of TDM
