Second batch of Hong Kong consumption vouchers to be disbursed during summer, finance chief says, with more details to come this week
- Financial Secretary Paul Chan says he hopes use of e-vouchers can help boost development of electronic payments in city
- A total of 6.6 million personal accounts and about 130,000 merchant accounts began using stored value services after scheme was launched last year, Chan adds
The Hong Kong government will distribute the second batch of HK$5,000 (US$637) in consumption vouchers during the summer, with more details to be released this week, the city’s finance chief has said.
Residents can store the e-vouchers in any of six service providers, after BoC Pay and HSBC’s PayMe joined operators Alipay HK, Octopus, Tap & Go and WeChat Pay HK.
“I very much hope that … consumers can enjoy consumption discounts and that the vouchers can … widen and deepen the development of electronic payments,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his blog on Sunday.
A total of 6.6 million personal accounts and about 130,000 merchant accounts began using stored value services after the voucher scheme was launched last year, he added.
The handout is part of the second iteration of the scheme, which was announced in March. More than 6.3 million eligible residents each received up to HK$5,000 worth of digital coupons in the first round in April.
Chan said data-driven e-voucher transactions had created “favourable conditions” for businesses to continue digitalising their operations and management strategies.