President of the Industry and Commerce Federation of Macau Central and Southern District, Lei Cheok Kuan, suggested that the government distribute MOP15,000 to residents across three months in a bid to help sustain local businesses..
According to the official, the first two MOP15,000 can be given in cash, while the remaining stimulus could be handed out in a form of e-vouchers as a way to support the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to near-bankruptcy of these firms.
“In fact, most SMEs are now facing closure, and those who have not closed are afraid of being asked to repay their debts immediately after closure. For small-sized enterprises, they are basically unable to repay their debts, so they only maintain their business and wait for the promotion of the government’s assistance measures so far,” Lei told Chinese media outlet Exmoo.
Lei explained that SMEs are now “strongly hoping” that the MOP10 billion government assistance measure, announced last weekend, will be launched as soon as possible, so that they can stay in business for at least a while.
The Legislative Assembly is set to meet virtually tomorrow to discuss the budget amendment to accommodate the recently announced stimulus.
Lei pointed out that except for supermarkets, most restaurants have basically no capacity to support their businesses any longer.
“The implementation process of the financial measures proposed by the government is too slow. The issuance of assistance measures has already been ongoing for a long time, but it has not been officially launched yet,” Lei criticized.
He expressed understanding that some residents are dissatisfied with the assistance measure because they do not meet the conditions announced by the authorities. However, two-thirds of local SMEs are already considering ceasing operation because of the pressure they face, meaning the government must act swiftly.
The government pledged over the weekend an extra MOP10 billion for financial relief measures for the public and to support other pandemic-related expenses in light of the current community Covid-19 outbreak, bringing the total value of financial relief measures to be put forward by the government to MOP20 billion.
Back in June, the government announced a MOP10 billion financial support measure, including one-off subsidies for employees, self-employed individuals and businesses; an exemption for tourism tax; and a fuel subsidy for the taxi sector.
At present, the total excess reserves which the government is using on pandemic prevention work is as high as MOP 35.1 billion. Staff Reporter
