EditorialVouchers best way to help lift Hong Kong’s economy amid coronavirus pandemic
- Hong Kong can easily afford the latest round of digital handouts, which will cushion the personal and business impact of the pandemic
The rainy day mindset behind management of Hong Kong’s public finances – often derided by supporters of bigger social spending outlays – is looking prescient yet again in the face of the fifth and most devastating wave of Covid-19 to hit the city.
The city has enough in the bank to easily afford a bill expected to be more than HK$66 billion (US$8.4 billion) for more than six million HK$10,000 (US$1,300) digital voucher handouts to cushion the personal and business impact of the pandemic, without having to check its balance.
That is in addition to HK$36 billion for the previous round of HK$5,000 consumption vouchers last year. The expected boost for the city’s gross domestic product this time is proportionate – 1.2 per cent compared with 0.7 per cent for the smaller handout.
The distinction between the two handouts does not end there. The first helped the consumption-led recovery from the pandemic, after contagion and mortality had stabilised. The next is to shore up confidence in the face of rampant infection and a death toll of nearly 2,900 and rising, not 200-odd and static.
Beginning with the first HK$5,000 instalment from April, disbursement will be spread out over seven months instead of five.
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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po explained the unspecified start date reflected Covid-related manpower and technical factors, not to mention that many places where people might spend the handout have been closed, such as entertainment venues, gyms, beauty parlours and hair salons.