Central District Community Service Consultative Council member Ao Weng Hei said yesterday that the government should promote a coin collection programme.
Ao made the remarks during a regular meeting of the council at the Activity Centre of the Patane Municipal Market (colloquially known as “Water Market”).
Ao suggested that the government should set up coin collection machines at designated locations, allowing residents to count the value of coins through the machine for free and put the amount on their MACAU Pass or other electronic payment tools, as it could stimulate consumption and the government would not need to spend money on minting new coins.
He pointed out that electronic payments have become popular, as the consumption subsidy smartcard (known in Cantonese as “siufai kat”) has been introduced in May, and residents have gradually become accustomed to the “cashless” consumption model, which he described as convenient and fast.
Due to the popularity of e-payments, the use of traditional cash, especially coins, is gradually decreasing. In fact, some merchants were unwilling to accept 10 avos, 20 avos or 50 avos coins so that they have become virtually useless for residents, Ao said.
He underlined that Hong Kong launched its Coin Collection Programme in 2014 with the help of two so-called “coin carts”, which can be added to payment tools such as Hong Kong’s Octopus smartcard, or people can choose to donate the amount to charity.
This photo taken yesterday shows patacas avos (cents) and Hong Kong cents coins from several wallets. Photo: Amy Chao
