Four local male employees and a male business owner were asked by The Macau Post Daily yesterday in Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga near Sacred Heart Canossian College about their thoughts on the 10 billion pataca financial support plan announced by the government on Sunday, with all the employees saying that they did not qualify to benefit from the plan, while the business owner said all the subsidy will be spent on rent and his employees’ salaries.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong announced this year’s 10 billion pataca financial support plan in response to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy, covering residents and businesses in different sectors.
According to the plan, local taxpayers with a personal income of 6,000 patacas but not more than 480,000 patacas in 2020 and 2021 will receive a grant of 15,000 patacas, while for businesses which reported a net profit of less than 600,000 patacas in 2021, will be granted a minimum of 30,000 patacas and a maximum of 500,000 patacas based on 10 percent of their average operational costs reported to the government for the three years from 2019 to 2021.
‘The current COVID-19 outbreak is affecting all residents’
A civil servant surnamed Lei, whose monthly salary ranges between 25,000 and 30,000 patacas, said that he didn’t qualify for the financial support plan as his total income in 2020-2021 exceeds the plan’s maximum 480,000 patacas. He also said he hoped the government could reconsider the plan before implementing it, adding that the current novel coronavirus outbreak is affecting all residents, not just some of them.
Lei said that the current plan will only benefit low-income employees. However, he added, all residents, irrespective of how much they earn, face their own difficulties during the outbreak. Consequently, Lei said he hoped the government could “improve” the plan.
‘It is better to implement a financial plan, like the e-consumption benefit scheme’
Another civil servant, surnamed Ng, told The Macau Post Daily that his salary reaches over 480,000 patacas a year, so he is not included in the financial support plan. Ng pointed out that not all residents can receive the plan’s 15,000 pataca from the government. Therefore, in his opinion, it would be better to implement a financial plan like the e-consumption benefit scheme so that all Macau residents could benefit.
‘Many of my friends won’t get the 15,000 patacas’
Lok, who works for a social welfare organisation, said he didn’t qualify to receive the 15,000 patacas. Lok said he hoped the government could raise the maximum two-year personal income of 480,000 patacas so that more residents could benefit from the plan, adding that most people in Macau receive a monthly salary of more than 20,000 patacas. Lok also said that even though some people earn a salary of over 20,000 patacas a month, their salaries were just enough to cover the daily expenses of the whole family. However, he said, the financial plan does help the local economy, underlining that if people do not have enough money for spending, all businesses would have to close as people wouldn’t be able to buy anything but their most basic necessities. Lok underlined that many of his friends are not able to receive the plan’s 15,000 patacas as their monthly salaries exceed 20,000 patacas.
‘Mending the fold after the sheep have been stolen’
Chu, another civil servant, who earns over 30,000 patacas a month, said: “It is reasonable for people who work for the government not to benefit from the plan,” adding that some of them still receive their full salary even if they do not need to go to work during the current COVID-19 outbreak. Chu described the plan as “mending the fold after the sheep have been stolen”*, saying that the current outbreak has been affecting society for over three weeks. He also said that granting the 15,000 patacas may not be able to satisfy most residents’ demand, as they have not only been affected by this outbreak but also by the previous ones.
*Mending the fold after the sheep have been stolen is a Chinese idiom that means “to act belatedly”.
Meanwhile, Chan, a tutorial centre owner, told The Macau Post Daily that people who are jobless should also be included in the financial support plan. Chan described the situation as “frustrating”, adding that the government only considered those who have a job, but ignored those who are jobless. Chan said although he will benefit from the financial support plan for small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the subsidy will be used up for paying his centre’s 100,000 pataca rent for two months and his employees’ salaries. Chan added that even though the educational sector is not allowed to operate during the current COVID-19 outbreak, he still needs to pay at least half-month salaries to his staff. Therefore, Chan said that the subsidy will not go into his pockets. Chan, speaking as a business owner, underlined that he needs to pay for his centre’s running costs even though he has “zero” income. He also said that he had already suffered a loss of one million patacas since the novel coronavirus first impacted the city in early 2020.
Nucleic acid test (NAT) station workers wearing protective clothing checking testees’ Macau Health Codes outside Sacred Heart Canossian College English Section yesterday. The Macau Post Daily’s vox pop was conducted near the station yesterday.
Photo: Yuki Lei
