Gov’t hopes to launch new round of consumption cards on Jun. 1

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, said yesterday at the Legislative Assembly (AL) that the government hopes to be able to launch the third round of economic benefits through the issuing of consumption cards (e-vouchers) by June 1.

Lei was at the AL for the discussion and approval of the amendment to the government budget for 2022 including the new benefits announced previously by the Chief Executive.

According to the Secretary, although the bill was discussed and finally approved yesterday, there are still procedures to be dealt with, namely the issuing of the Administrative Regulation that will control the details of the new round of benefits. Lei stated that he hopes the Regulation is completed and published so the benefits can be launched by June 1.

The bill aiming to amend the budget for this year was finally approved yesterday as the government adopted the procedure for urgent matters, which omits the discussion of bills in the standing committees before the final reading.

The economic crisis and high unemployment rate due to the impacts of the Covid-19 justified the new rounds of benefits to the population, and the investment of an extra 7.2 billion patacas.

From this 7.2 billion, some 5.9 billion patacas are allocated to the new round of e-vouchers. This amounts to a total value of 8,000 patacas of which 5,000 form the initial balance and another 3,000 are for the purpose of immediate discounts, as in the second round of these benefits.

Additionally, the government will spend another 1.3 billion patacas which will be used for the exemption of payment of water and electricity bills.

Contrary to what happened in the past, this time the exemption from payment of the utilities bills will also apply to commercial, rather than residential units only.

The government also clarified that in case the exemption is not fully redeemed over a period of three months, the government is planning to extend the period of use for up to six months or even longer, with the final details to be confirmed once the Administrative Regulation is published.

Although the lawmakers unanimously agreed with the enforcement of these measures from the government, some also expressed concern that such measures fall short of the goal to revive the economy and support the residents through difficult times.

Several lawmakers have urged the government to take more significant measures to solve the real problem, namely, the lack of visitors to Macau: a result of border restrictions still in force for many regions of the mainland and in many other countries and regions.

The lawmakers also called for more support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which, they argue, are failing.

In response the government officials reaffirmed the need for the new round of benefits, aimed at supporting both families and the local SMEs, and called on residents to use the benefits wisely in the support of local SMEs.

Lei also urged the SMEs to reciprocate this support by offering special discounts and promotions for residents as an incentive for internal spending and the revival of the economy. This was in response to concerns expressed by lawmakers that the new round of benefits could be responsible for a hike on the prices of essential goods to consumers, which they said is already occurring, according to consumer reports.

Lawmakers Ella Lei, Song Pek Kei, and Nick Lei also took the opportunity of this debate to ask for more measures aimed at the unemployed, as well as additional measures to help sectors that would not benefit from the e-vouchers, including the tourism companies, travel agencies, taxi drivers and real estate professionals.

According to these lawmakers the new support measures are “urgently needed but also very limited in scope”, they said.

Lei added that according to data collected during the previous two rounds of support, “more than 77% of the money favored SMEs, and particularly restaurants, supermarkets and also logistics companies”.

Lei noted that the previous rounds of e-vouchers also contributed to boosting the modernization of electronic payment methods in most of the local stores, preparing them better for receiving payments from future tourists.

In his turn, lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho criticized the attitude of the Secretary on the discussion of the bill saying that he “runs from questions and explanations” and accused the government of making use of the procedure for urgent passage of legislation “to avoid a real and concrete discussion on the issues.”

Pereira Coutinho also urged the government to change its attitude toward border restrictions and other preventive measures such as the nucleic acid tests (NAT) which he proposed be provided free of charge to “ease the burden on families.”

“The government may save the economy now at this moment [with the third round of e-vouchers] but the future is still very uncertain and the problem can only be solved with the return of visitors,” Pereira Coutinho said, a view that was shared by Wang Sai Man and Carmen Lo, among others lawmakers.

Referring to the measures previously enacted by the government, to provide subsidized training to facilitate professional reconversion, Wang indicated that these have proven to be useless. He said that most people looking for reemployment were university graduates and workers with many years of experience, to whom the training sessions provided by the Labour Affairs Bureau are not beneficial.

Wang called on the government to concentrate on new measures aimed at companies, to be presented for the third quarter of this year, at the latest.

In response to Pereira Coutinho and Lo’s call for eased border restrictions, Secretary Lei said, “The priority of the government is to secure the health and safety of the population with the economic recovery coming second.”