Speed HK$10,000 handout to boost local economy or Hongkongers will spend it on travel, former minister says

Distributing the handout before travel restrictions are lifted will encourage local spending, former finance minister Frederick Ma Si-hang says

Registrations for the scheme start at the end of June and payouts will begin from July

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The Hong Kong government announced in February that permanent residents over the age of 18 will be eligible for the handout. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:30am, 14 May 2020Updated: 5:16pm, 14 May 2020

The Hong Kong government should pay the promised HK$10,000 (US$1,290) handout for each permanent resident in June so that the money is spent locally to boost the city’s sagging economy, a former minister said.

“Hong Kong people like travelling and if the HK$10,000 payout is made after border controls are relaxed, most of this money will be spent on hotels or spas in Japan or other travel hotspots in Europe,” said Frederick Ma Si-hang, former secretary for financial services and the treasury.

Registrations for the HK$71.1 billion cash handout should be brought forward to this month and payments should be made in June “as people will shop and dine in Hong Kong if they are unable to easily travel overseas,” he said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

Ma was a Hong Kong minister from July 2002 to June 2007, and his term included a period when the city was struck by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003.

Former secretary for financial services and the treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

The cash incentive was the centrepiece of Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget in February. It was aimed at easing the financial burden on Hongkongers and injecting new life into an economy ravaged by months of social unrest and the coronavirus outbreak. Under his timetable, registrations are not due until end-June, with disbursements only in July at the latest.

Ma said that according to protocol the government has to pass the budget in the Legislative Council before it can allow people to register for the handout, but he added that these are unusual times and the government can make an exception in this case to start the registrations earlier so that the payments can be processed quickly.