The government says that it expects to spend 7.36 billion patacas on its annual wealth-sharing cash handouts this year.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, who is also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council, made the announcement during a press conference at Government Headquarters on Friday.
According to Cheong, around 717,000 permanent residents will receive 10,000 patacas each, while about 31,000 non-permanent residents will receive 6,000 patacas each, irrespective of place of birth, nationality, age, and current place of residence.
Permanent residency can be acquired after habitually living in Macau for seven consecutive years.
As last year, this year’s cash handouts will be issued from July.
The government has been paying out the cash handouts annually since 2008, when each permanent resident received 5,000 patacas while each non-permanent resident received 3,000 patacas. Since then, the amount had been gradually raised, before it was increased to the current amount of 10,000 patacas for permanent residents and 6,000 patacas for non-permanent residents in 2019.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the cash sharing handouts were usually paid out from July, while the annual handouts were issued in advance from April during the three-year pandemic from 2020 through 2022. Last year, the government once again started its annual cash handout payments in July.
As previously, the handouts will be distributed in batches. While those in a number of special groups will receive their cash handouts by bank transfer, others will be paid with a crossed cheque to be sent to their respective designated address by post.
Old-age subsidy beneficiaries will be among the first to receive the handouts from July 2. The last batch will be paid out from July 31.
48,000 beneficiaries receive cheques outside Macau
During Friday’s press conference, Financial Services Bureau (DSF) Director Stephen Iong Kong Leong acknowledged that the government does not know exactly how many beneficiaries of its cash sharing programme have been living outside Macau for a long time. When asked about the matter by the media again, Iong revealed that around 48,000 beneficiaries have signed up to receive their crossed cheque at an address outside Macau, comprising about 38,000 in Hong Kong, 6,600 in the mainland, and 2,800 in other regions and countries.
The government’s annual cash sharing programme is carried out and overseen by the Financial Services Bureau.
DSF Deputy Director Chong Seng Sam pointed out that the number of this year’s beneficiaries, about 748,000, is around the same as last year, adding that her bureau has come up with the number based on the information provided by the Identification Services Bureau (DSI) about the number of those holding a valid local ID card.
The programme had around 743,000 beneficiaries last year, when the government expected to spend 7.29 billion patacas on its 2023 cash sharing programme.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon (centre), Financial Services Bureau (DSF) Director Stephen Iong Kong Leong (left) and Deputy Director Chong Seng Sam look on during Friday’s Executive Council press conference at Government Headquarters. – Photo courtesy of TDM
