More funds will be applied for if the $1.1 billion earmarked for civil servants who join a voluntary retirement scheme proves insufficient.
The funds, approved by the Finance Committee yesterday, will be set aside for 70,000 staff in 59 grades eligible to join the scheme.
The grades include surplus workers and staff in obsolete positions, including clerical officers, technicians and drivers.
Susan Mak Lok Suet-ling, Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service, said the Government would go to the Finance Committee for more funds if there were more applications than expected.
'We don't know how many will join,' she said.
About 3,500 staff, or five per cent, are expected to join the scheme, under which applicants are entitled to normal pension payments.
Each will be given six to 20 months' salary as extra compensation for early retirement.