Constant adjustment mechanism considered for Welfare give-out

A constant adjustment mechanism may be introduced next year to evaluate the amount of social security funds paid to each beneficiary, the Permanent Committee for Social Coordination announced at a recent plenary meeting.

All members of the committee came to an agreement about the introduction of the mechanism. The new mechanism was the fruit of research previously conducted by the University of Macau, under the commission of the Social Security Fund (FSS).

The research investigated the viability of an adjustment mechanism based on indexation for several types of hand-outs, with particular emphasis on the elderly pension. Under the proposed mechanism, the hand-out amount will be evaluated while taking into account the inflation rate, the change of the FSS’s average income in the five preceding years, and the change in life expectancy per capita.

Specifically, the FSS will start to consider the benefit adjustment if the accumulated inflation rate since the last adjustment reaches or exceeds 3%. After weighing the overall financial position of the FSS over the past five years and the average rate of change in life expectancy, the FSS will calculate the adjustable range of the benefit amount. If the accumulated inflation rate since the last adjustment is less than 3%, the payment amount will theoretically remain unchanged.

However, in the above two cases, the SAR government will eventually review the basic old-age security level and, if necessary, make an adjustment through macroeconomic policies in order to ensure the policy direction – the sum of elderly pension and subsidy for senior citizens not being lower than the minimum subsistence index – can be implemented.

The committee also discussed compensation for occupational accidents and diseases. A member urged the government to develop an industry-focused mechanism regarding such compensations, recommending the latter to start with the construction industry.

Seniorís pension 

level retained

In reply to lawmaker Zheng Anting’s inquiry, the FSS’s president, Iong Kong Io, announced that the ceiling of the elderly pension hand-out will remain at MOP3,740 per month next year, as the city is still seeing negative changes in the Composite Consumer Price Index (CCPI).

Iong recalled that the ceiling was raised in January 2020. With an outlook of a negative CCPI change for this year, the FSS has decided to retain the ceiling at the aforementioned level.

He assured the lawmaker that the government will adjust the ceiling accordingly to the impacts from the current pandemic so as to help residents meet challenges.