Coronavirus: Hong Kong government to give one-time handout of HK$10,000 to non-permanent residents in need

Name: Hong Kong’s ethnic minority groups struggle as city battles Covid-19 and recession
Uploaded: 2020-09-21T12:22:12.000Z
Duration: 4 min 6 s
Description: Hong Kong’s ethnic minority groups struggle as city battles Covid-19 and recession

Critics of move maintain newcomers to Hong Kong haven’t contributed enough to warrant help, while supporters insist they are part of city’s fabric

Welfare chief Dr Law Chi-kwong says city is obliged to help all ‘who are bona fide residents of Hong Kong’

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Welfare chief Law Chi-kwong and Carmen Kong, secretary of the Community Care Task Force, unveil the cash handout on Monday. Photo: Edmond So

Phila Siu

Published: 8:22pm, 21 Sep 2020Updated: 1:17am, 22 Sep 2020

About 203,000 underprivileged non-permanent residents in Hong Kong will be given a one-off HK$10,000 cash handout as the city’s economy continues to sag under the Covid-19 pandemic, a move the welfare minister stressed was appropriate, as the immigrants were “bona fide” city residents.

Critics, however, were quick to insist that the roughly HK$2.1 billion (US$271 million) in public money should not be spent on people they said had not made long-term contributions to Hong Kong’s economy, while supporters countered that the more recent migrants were part of the city’s fabric, and also in need of financial assistance amid the ongoing outbreak.

All permanent Hong Kong residents were already offered an identical one-off handout of HK$10,000 as a relief measure under the budget delivered by Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in February.

“They are bona fide Hong Kong residents,” Secretary for Labour and Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong said of the newcomers on Monday.

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Hong Kong’s ethnic minority groups struggle as city battles Covid-19 and recession

“In every community, we have to consider, particularly in this difficult time, how to assist everybody who are bona fide residents of Hong Kong. I think it is truly justified that since the permanent residents have obtained the HK$10,000, new arrivals who are relatively financially [in need] at this difficult time [also get help].”