Executive Council spokesman Leong Heng Teng has announced that the government has drafted a bill which proposes that three percent of the surplus of the government’s annual central budget be transferred to the Social Security Fund (FSS), provided that the statutorily required amount of the government’s “basic” reserves is sufficient, with the aim of ensuring the sustainability of the social security system over the next five decades.
According to the law regulating the government’s financial reserves, the government’s reserves consist of “basic” reserves and “extraordinary” reserves. The government told lawmakers in October last year that until August last year, the government had “basic” reserves of 147.5 billion patacas as well as “extraordinary” reserves of 365.9 billion patacas – the total reserves of 513.4 billion patacas – i.e. more than half a trillion patacas.
According to the law on the government’s financial reserves, the government is required to keep the “basic” reserves always equivalent to 150 percent of the government’s budgeted expenditure listed in its latest budget. After the required amount of the “basic” reserves is reached, the remaining annual financial surplus will be added to the “extraordinary” reserves.
PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN OUR PRINT EDITION.
