Almost 390,000 residents to see return of MOP7,000 from the provident fund

Vice president of the FSS’s administrative committee, Chan Pou Wan

In late September, some 389,346 residents will see the return of the injection of funds from the government in their individual accounts, the vice president of the Social Security Fund’s (FSS) administrative committee, Chan Pou Wan said yesterday.

Chan was speaking at a press conference organized by the FSS to introduce the return of the MOP7,000 of special allocation from the government surplus to the Non-Mandatory Central Provident Fund.

Such an injection of funds has been stopped since 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local economy which ultimately resulted in a deficit budget for three years with the government having to resort to the Financial Reserves to balance the accounts.

As in the past, the beneficiaries of the fund injection need to be Permanent Residents of Macau over 22 years of age.

Only those over 65 years old or special cases of people below 65 but are recipients of the Social Welfare Bureau pensions can withdraw these funds. As for most residents, the funds will be kept in an individual account from which the FSS makes annual applications and investments to earn interest.

According to Chan, since the program started in 2010, the government has injected a total of MOP31.8 billion in total with the maximum amount injected into each individual account being MOP84,000. The same official said that according to the calculations of interests earned and added to the basic value, those who started to benefit from the program should have earned approximately MOP100,814.

Additionally, those residents who are eligible to have an account for the first time this year total 9,178. In this case and since it is the first time that the government injects funds, these over 9,000 residents will get MOP10,000 instead of the MOP7,000.

In total the government is investing some MOP2.817 billion in this program this year.

Chan also noted that in line with the government’s bid to promote electronic services, the FSS has also launched several electronic services this year, including the possibility of the beneficiaries of the funds inquiring about the fund allocation list, inquiries about registration for automatic withdrawal and the payment eligibility, filing of an objection statement and application for fund withdrawal, all provided via the Macao One Account.

The same official also informed that among the almost 390,000 beneficiaries, 93,314 are senior citizens age 65 and above, from which the FSS estimates that approximately 71,591 are eligible for automatic withdrawal and payment, that is, will receive and be able to use immediately the funds.

The funds will be automatically transferred on September 25, to the bank account where they are currently receiving old-age or disability pension. Other eligible persons who are not eligible for automatic payment must go through the fund withdrawal procedures.

The Special Allocation from Budget Surplus for the Non-Mandatory Central Provident Fund System is a policy that embodies a combination of the government’s sharing of economic results with residents and the retirement security of residents.

The purpose of this initiative is to strengthen the retirement security of local residents and to build the foundation for the Central Provident Fund System.

183,181 PEOPLE  EXCLUDED FROM THE BENEFICIARY LIST

At the same press conference, the FSS also noted some 183,181 people were not included in this year’s list due to a series of factors that might be related to the time of permanence in Macau (minimum 183 days) or other aspects.

Today, via SMS the FSS will notify all those who have been included in the list of beneficiaries from 2024 with others being able to appeal the decision of exclusion based on a series of valid justifications.

Among them, those who attended tertiary education level courses outside Macau, those who attained age 65 and habitually resided in the mainland, and those who worked outside Macau to bear the main living expenses of relatives in Macau can file an objection statement via the Macao One Account.

Questioned on the topic by the media, Chan noted that although the investments made by the government from individual accounts have had negative results in 2022 due to the global economic crisis, in 2023 such applications have already recorded a revenue of MOP7.4 billion. The same official noted also that, so far, the revenue from the first months of this year is about MOP2.7 billion. In total, the fund has an accumulated sum of MOP94.4 billion.

Mandatory system will have to wait

Questioned on the sidelines of the press conference, the vice president of the Social Security Fund’s (FSS) administrative committee, Chan Pou Wan said that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused “some delays” in what concerns the idea of turning the Non-Mandatory Central Provident Fund into a Mandatory one, which would include all companies operating in Macau.

Chan said that due to the effects of the pandemic on the economy namely on the smaller enterprises, it is not yet possible to enforce the mandatory system, adding that the FSS continues to issue annual reports on the matter as well as conducting studies with the local universities to obtain scientific evidence of when this could be a reality.