Macau Economic Association President Lao Pun Lap says that the government’s 10-billion-pataca financial support plan, which was announced on July 3, aims to “relieve economic pressure” on the city due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy, covering residents and businesses in different sectors, such as the taxi sector and local employees as “relatively targeted”.
Lao made the remarks on Tuesday in an exclusive phone interview with The Macau Post Daily about the government’s 10-billion-pataca financial support plan.
Controversy about 80 pct coverage of local taxpayers
When asked about some residents having complained about official data which show that 80 percent of local taxpayers will benefit from the plan by receiving 15,000 patacas each, Lao said that the 80 percent was calculated by the whole number of 290,000 local taxpayers in 2020 and 2021, of who about 230,000 will receive the 15,000 patacas. Lao added that the coverage this year has been expanded compared to the previous financial support plan in 2020. However, Lao said he believed that the reason the government did not include all residents, such as housewives and senior citizens in the plan, was because the government wanted the plan to be “targeted”, based on the actual situation of the current COVID-19 outbreak.
Lao said that of the plan’s 10 billion patacas, the government has earmarked 8.6 billion patacas in financial support for freelancers, taxpayers, traders and jobless residents, adding he believed this year’s support plan aims to “target” local employees with low incomes and those who are jobless, so as to provide financial assistance primarily to people from society’s “vulnerable group”, aiming to “keep the local economy stable and ensure employment”.
Lao said that the government’s tightened COVID-19 prevention and control measures are having a “major” impact on Macau’s industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as their employees, thus affecting the local economy. However, Lao said, there was a “high” possibility for the government to further improve and adjust the financial support plan due to the current COVID-19 outbreak.
Lao also said he believed that due to the impact of the current novel coronavirus outbreak, Macau’s economy has suffered more “serious” repercussions compared to the previous outbreaks. Therefore, he urged the government to consider raising the maximum two-year personal income of 480,000 patacas in order to benefit from the plan.
SMEs need more financial support
Based on the about 5 billion patacas among the 8.6 billion patacas set aside for Macau’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Lao said the government needed to give financial support to the SMEs, as they have suffered an “extremely severe” impact due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. However, Lao urged the government to listen to more views from civil society before it implements the financial support plan.
Lao singled out the retail sector such as supermarkets and pharmacies as examples to explain the plan’s “target” approach, saying that they might not be affected a lot by the current COVID-19 outbreak, because of which the financial support for them should be “relatively less” than compared to the other SME sectors, such as the tourism and hotel industries which are suffering a “major” loss.
Setting a new mechanism
Meanwhile, Lao said the government ought to set up a mechanism for people who should be included in the support plan but fail to be eligible, to apply for financial support, based on which the government could provide them with financial support according to each applicant’s specific situation. Lao described the government’s current mechanism as “complicated”, adding that the government might not be aware of the taxpayers’ current situation, who might have been suffering a severe financial blow due to the current outbreak.
Lao urged the government to implement the financial support plan as quickly as possible, adding that the government should quickly adjust and improve the plan and pass it to the Legislative Assembly (AL), in order to ease livelihood difficulties in a prompt manner.
Wealth-sharing scheme
Meanwhile, Lao said that if every resident could benefit from the financial support plan, it would become another wealth-sharing scheme, which would change the plan’s approach from being “targeted to “inclusive”, adding that he estimated negative growth might hit Macau’s economy in the third quarter due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, probably causing the unemployment rate to rise even further.
In addition, Lao urged the government to reconsider adjusting its annual wealth-sharing scheme, pointing out that there are quite a few Macau residents not living in Macau who, however, benefit from the scheme every year. Lao said the amount could be better spent on people living in Macau.
Macau Economic Association President Lao Pun Lap poses at a coffee shop near Hoi Fu Garden during a previous interview with The Macau Post Daily in June last year. Photo: Prisca Tang
