Scheme gets off the ground yesterday
According to a joint statement by the Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT) and the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM), as of yesterday 562,000 residents had registered for the government’s Electronic Consumption Benefit Scheme this year.
According to the statement, 266,000 have chosen to use their mobile device platform to benefit from the scheme, while 296,000 have opted for using conventional “e-consumption cards”
The statement noted that as of yesterday 447,000 residents had received their start-up fund of 5,000 patacas and discount of 3,000 patacas. The statement added that 241,000 residents received the money automatically via their mobile device platform, while 206,000 have topped up or picked up their “e-consumption cards”
The statement underlined that the validity period of the measure has been extended to nine months, which means residents are able to use the pecuniary benefits until February 28 next year. The statement added that the scheme can also be used to pay one’s water, electricity, LPG, motor fuel, telecommunication and audiovisual broadcasting bills.
The scheme started yesterday.
The statement underlined that the Economic and Technological Development Bureau and the Consumer Council will keep monitoring the prices in the local market and follow up on residents’ reports about any price gouging, as well as keep distributing leaflets to merchants about the scheme’s rules.
According to DSEDT officials interviewed by local media, no cases of price gouging were discovered by inspectors yesterday.
Price gouging occurs when a seller increases the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. Usually, price gouging occurs after a demand or supply shock.
The officials pointed out that merchants found to resort to price gouging face the possibility of their businesses being removed from the scheme for a period of time.
Fewer residents pay with the e-consumption benefits: vox pop
Meanwhile, a number of residents were asked by The Macau Post Daily yesterday about the frequency of using their “e-consumption cards” on the first day of the launch of the government’s third round of e-consumption benefits, with some saying that they had not yet used their cards, while merchants said their sales were up thanks to the scheme.
A male resident surnamed Lei, who chose MPay for the scheme, said that he had paid cash for his breakfast yesterday morning as he did not want to “waste” the discount of 100 patacas that is offered by MPay for the first payment when using the scheme, so he said he wanted to save it for next time when he will pay for something costing over 100 patacas.
A similar situation happened to Vickie, who told The Macau Post Daily at a bus stop that she had not used the scheme yet as she wanted to wait for her colleagues to use it first and to take a look at the amount of money they got from the “red envelopes’’ that are handed out by ICBC for using its platform when using the scheme, adding that she chose the same mobile payment platform as last year – ICBC.
The owner of a takeaway outlet surnamed Li said that her sales yesterday had increased and the orders had not stopped coming in the morning, adding that the increase “may be” due to the e-consumption scheme. However, she said that there were only two to three people who paid with their e-consumption cards at her takeaway in the morning, adding that there was a customer who wanted to pay with MPay, but finally she paid in cash because she had only bought something for around 50 patacas, which did not reach the 100 patacas she needed to spend in order to get the 100 patacas that MPay is giving its customers when using the current scheme for the first time.
Another owner, surnamed Ip, who operates a fish stall at Patane market, told The Macau Post Daily that his sales had not grown too much yesterday as many people chose to eat at restaurants on the first day of the scheme, so fewer people would eat at home. However, he said he thought that his sales will grow at weekends when people have more time to cook at home. He also said that only 20 to 30 percent of his consumers used the e-consumption benefit scheme to pay for their purchases at his stall yesterday.
A shopper pays with his mobile device platform yesterday at a supermarket in Patane district. Photos: Yuki Lei
Ip, a fish vendor, poses at his stall yesterday at Patane Market.
