AL Plenary | Budget for 2018 approved with remarks on high expenses

Au Kam San (left) and Ng Kuok Cheong laugh during yesterday’s meeting

The Budget Law for 2018 was finally approved at yesterday’s plenary session of the Legislative Assembly (AL). Despite almost unanimous votes in favor, several lawmakers commented on the high expenses that the government has projected for next year.

Lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong recalled that during the first reading of the law last month, he had called attention to the lack of information related to “big projects” and the multiannual works that surpass a single year’s budget.

Ng reiterated that this had been mentioned before and “reaffirmed this request on the [Standing] Committee [that analyzed the bill in specialty] and although the government seems to have replied positively to my requests, so far I haven’t seen any of these elements [included].”

“For the future, we need to include more elements, namely on the multiannual budgets and effects expected [to be achieved in each year], namely on the 34 projects from the Public Works that [are budgeted at] over MOP100 million [each].”

Lawmaker Ella Lei was also worried about the government’s growing expenses, noting the example of the Civil Aviation Authority (AACM), where the budget has increased by about 20 percent for 2018.

The budget increase is said to be related to several studies pertaining to the airport expansion, which led Lei to say: “[About] those reports [from studies], their quality is not always acceptable by society. Results often do not match with the reality.” She added that the need for such studies and reports was questionable.
Lei also took the opportunity to remark on a topic she had also raised during the first reading of the bill: the need for an “automatic mechanism that transfers a certain [defined] percentage from the annual income directly to social benefits.”

Song Pek Kei also called on the government to make “rational use of the resources” and emphasized the need for “criteria for the usage of public funds.” She criticized the government’s analysis of the “cost versus benefits” of several measures, citing the Taipa Ferry Terminal and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) as examples of projects that according to Song, “will be a huge expense” in future.

Song also criticized the growth of government expenses – which are projected to leap 14.5 percent to MOP109 billion – in connection with the government’s larger workforce and related expenses. Song said these were “unpredictable” and “unlimited”, and ran contrary to the Chief Executive’s measures to control the hiring of civil servants.

Ip Sio Kai and Mak Soi Kun also requested added control and increased transparency regarding the public accounts, as well as more attention from the follow-up committee on public finances when analyzing the money spent.

To the lawmakers’ concerns, the Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong replied: “Your concerns are also my own. We are always working on that direction.”

Regarding the transparency, he added that it was “why we introduced a mid-term [budget] report” and that “we already prepared all the documents regarding all the big projects”, of which there are around 35 amounting to more than MOP100 million.

“We will also proceed with the work on inspections and communicate all those at the follow-up committee,” he continued.

Replying to Lei and Song, Leong said that all studies need prior authorization, claiming that certain services authorize the studies according to pre-determined specifications and selectively analyze the results obtained.

Leong said the reports would have to be presented for review by the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) and the Audit Committee (CA), promising, “We will seek to include those reports in the mid-term [budget] report.”

Pereira Coutinho once again criticized and even voted against article 15 of the bill, which concerns the government’s newly announced exemption of stamp duty for the auctions field.

Coutinho said he feared that such measures would clash with the anti-money laundering rules approved early this year.

Leong argued that this would not mean an end to inspections, noting that the government would first test each system for one year “to see if we can really promote the sector” and record all steps taken. Any transaction records will be kept for a period of five years.

On the lawmakers’ agenda

ISLANDS HOSPITAL Song Pek Kei and Pereira Coutinho brought the topic before the agenda with different points of concern. Song urged the government to reveal its plans for the operations and expenses of the future Islands Hospital, while Coutinho picked up on a recent statement from the Health Bureau on the responsibility for the construction delay. He asked, “What is the real situation?”, as he had previously during the Secretary for Transport and Public Works’ visit to the AL for the presentation of his Secretariat policy address for 2018.

SHARING ECONOMIC BENEFITS Lawmaker Leong Sun Iok urged employers to share the benefits of the economic recovery with workers in the territory by reestablishing benefits that had been frozen or reduced during the period of economic adjustment. According to Leong, “gaming revenues registered a growth of 19.1 percent in the first 10 months of this year and GDP also saw growth of 11.4 percent contributing to the growth in government revenue.” With this in mind, Leong urged the government to “raise the resources invested in social services and in education and to incentivize the gaming companies and others to raise as soon as possible employee salaries so these [people] can enjoy also the ‘fruits’ of economic growth.”

MINIMUM WAGE Ng Kuok Cheong presented a proposal of a transition mechanism that in his opinion could provide employment stability and a minimum wage to local workers with lower salaries. According to Ng’s proposal, the mechanism would last for an eight-year period in which the companies would contribute with salaries of around 70 percent of the minimum wage for the first year. That proportion would rise by 6 percent per year until the full 100 percent rate of the minimum wage is reached. With such a system, Ng said that government could “put an end to the government’s complementary subsidy [for low wage workers].”

Debates on driving licenses, universal health care greenlighted

AT yesterday’s plenary session of the Legislative Assembly (AL), lawmakers voted on several proposals of debate on topics of public interest proposed by Song Pek Kei and Si Ka Lon, Leong Sun Iok, Au Kam San, Mak Soi Kun and Ng Kuok Cheong, approving only two of the five submitted.

The topics of “mutual recognition of driving licenses” between Macau and mainland China, proposed by Leong Sun Iok and the establishment of a “universal health insurance system,” proposed by Song Pek Kei and Si Ka Lon were approved and will reach the plenary in the near future.

Dropped were the proposals to debate the effects of Typhoon Hato, proposed by Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San as well as Au’s proposal to address the creation of “municipal bodies without political power.”

Another of the proposals refused by the plenary, brought forward by lawmaker Mak, was to establish a system of training and education for government staff that aimed to increase their “love for the country and for Macau” by increasing their knowledge of China’s modern history. The proposal was shot down with a total of 24 votes against and only three in favor.

A proposal for the government to increase the birth subsidy for civil servants to MOP5,100 was also approved. The measure was argued to be an incentive to increase the birth rate but was criticized by Au for “being clearly insufficient” and “not likely to produce any effects.”