HK$5,000 vouchers: Hong Kong residents need another round of handouts, Democratic Party says, calls for pupils to be included
- Democratic Party says another handout is needed because HK$5,000 is not a large sum and can be spent quickly
- Party also urges government to allow elderly residents to get subsidy in cash
Hong Kong’s largest opposition party has called on the government to dish out another round of HK$5,000 consumption vouchers to residents, as well as to expand the scheme to cover 850,000 schoolchildren and allow the elderly to receive cash instead.
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“The most common complaint we’ve heard is that the sum is too little. Many said they used up the HK$2,000 in a week or two,” said Chan Po-ming, a member of the party’s central committee. “The next disbursement will only come in October. How can this help boost consumption?”
Pro-establishment groups, including the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), have since earlier this month been urging Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to promise another round of e-vouchers when she rolls out the last policy address of her five-year term on October 6.
The government announced the consumption voucher scheme in the budget in February. In general, permanent residents over the age of 18 are eligible and 6.93 million people registered for the scheme, which gave retailers and restaurants a boost in business and helped promote the wider use of digital payments.