The Economic Services Bureau (DSE) said in a statement yesterday that 614,000 residents have collected their first round of consumption subsidy smartcards, which equates to 93 percent of those registered.
According to DSE statement earlier this year, 658,000 residents registered for the government-issued consumption promotion cards known in Cantonese as “siufai kat”.
Consequently, some 40,000 residents have still not picked up their cards.
In the first tranche of the scheme, residents were provided with 3,000 patacas to spend by July 31, thus the bureau yesterday urged all those who have yet to collect their cards to pick them up and use them “as soon as possible”, as any amount remaining on the card after July 31 would return to the public coffers, the statement said.
According to yesterday’s statement, registrants must pick up their smartcards on or before next Friday at one of the following locations during office hours: the Economic Service Bureau in Rua do Doutor Pedro José Lobo; the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM) branch in Avenida de Sidónio Pais, or the Government Service Centres in Areia Preta and Taipa.
According to a statement earlier this year, the government plans to spend 2.2 billion patacas on the first-phase of the consumption subsidy scheme and 3.6 billion patacas on the second phase of the scheme.
The second phase of the scheme will see residents receiving 5,000 patacas.
Residents can only spend up to 300 patacas per day during the first-phase of the consumption subsidy scheme, while the second phase will continue to have a daily maximum amount of spending, but it may change after the government assesses the spending patterns during the first phase, the earlier government statement said.
That statement also noted that those who lose their consumption smartcard will not be issued a new one.
The statement also noted that as the second-phase subsidy of 5,000 patacas will be added to the same card, residents should keep their cards safely to ensure that they don’t lose it. Residents who lose their card are required to report the loss to the police, the statement said.
The government has not decided whether or not any resident who did not pick up his or her first round smartcard, will be able to collect the card for the second round.
