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Governing for the people

The Consumption Voucher Scheme (the Scheme) has entered into the new phase of actual using. About 5.5 million registrants who have completed the electronic registration within the first two weeks are going to collect their first voucher of $2,000 today. That means a total of $11 billion will be disbursed to our citizens today for spending according to their wish. The voucher can be used on a wide range of purposes, covering catering, entertainment, shopping and travel, which serve to boost local consumption to the fullest extent and realise the following objectives of the Scheme:

Encourage people to spend, support the enterprises by stimulating the market;
Boost the economy together and create more jobs;
Deepen the use of e-payment to facilitate the development of digital economy.

For those who receive the first voucher today, the voucher could be used immediately and they will collect the second voucher on 1 October.

The following citizens will collect their voucher in the second batch, i.e.:

Those who have completed the electronic registration between 18 July and 14 August; or
have submitted paper form registrations.

Registrants in the second batch will receive their first voucher of $2,000 on 1 September, and similarly, get their second voucher two months later (i.e. on 1 November).

Being one of the 5.5 million registrants who received the consumption voucher today, I have used the voucher for payment at a restaurant and a convenience store this morning before attending a radio programme. The whole process is really convenient and smooth.

Although there is a time difference in receiving the voucher for registrants in different batches, the time interval between the first two disbursements is indeed the same. This could allow a greater flexibility in the use of the voucher, while ensuring that the Scheme will not deviate from its overall goals. All the arrangements aim to maximise the benefit of the Scheme to people and strike a balance between the use of resources. Many coordination works have been involved in the progress.

Looking back at the past two years or so, the local economy had fallen into the longest and deepest recession in record, given the successive hit dealt by the violent acts and the pandemic. The once fluctuating epidemic situation also made us pessimistic to the economic prospect. The SAR Government has been fighting hard against the epidemic under the leadership of the Chief Executive, and I have been providing full support to the relevant financial needs. When drafting the Budget early this year, after taking into account the macro-economic situation, we decided to launch the Consumption Voucher Scheme, with a view to benefitting the most citizens and merchants, and ensuring all the resources could stay in the local economy. At the same time, the Scheme can promote the deepening use of e-payment in Hong Kong, giving a strong push for Hong Kong’s next phase of economic development.

Given the incentives offered by the Scheme, over the past few months, the total number of consumer accounts of the four stored value facilities (SVFs) has increased by over 1.2 million and the total number of merchants accepting e-payment has increased by more than 28 000. Although some critics say that the Scheme’s boosting effect on e-payment would not last long, the fact is that the competition between the SVF operators has already led to reduction in transaction fees paid by small merchants. I believe this trend will continue which can in turn facilitate the deepening development of the e-payment platform in Hong Kong.

The Scheme is achieving what it was designed for at the beginning. All along we have been thinking from the perspectives of the people. Even the Scheme involves many stakeholders, angles and situations, and requires people’s understanding and support, it can bring to our people benefits that can be felt. I also believe that people will gradually understand the advantages of e-payment.

In deriving fiscal initiatives and planning for the development of our financial services sector, it is always one of my goals to ensure that people could share and feel the benefits. From the Consumption Voucher Scheme that serves to benefit all citizens, to the 100% Personal Loan Guarantee Scheme that provides temporary support to those unemployed, they together with iBond, Silver Bond and annuity products, are all serving this same goal.

The development trend of the market has also raised people’s interests in such products. Taking the Silver Bond which just closed subscription last Friday for instance. It has been oversubscribed almost 2 times, attracting around $68 billion (an 60% increase from last year) from about 260 000 applications (an 90% increase from last year). Due to the overwhelming response, I have decided to raise the size of issuance to $30 billion. The allocation result will be announced this Friday.

The iBond we launched earlier this year was also well received with a large oversubscription. For the future issuance of Green Bond, even it is an infrastructure- and work projects-based product that mainly targets for institutional investors, we are also exploring to issue it in the retail market for the participation of the public. All these products and projects are all serving the same goal, i.e. to benefit the public and let them have a sense of having a stake during the implementation of policies.

Undeniably, there are dilemmas and imbalance in Hong Kong’s development, which we have to face them squarely. The key is that we need to deepen our understanding to identify the crux of the problems, and set out a solution blueprint and milestones in order to press ahead the works in full swing. By doing so, even those deep-seated problems could be resolved gradually. As Xiao Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council recently pointed out, we have to work really hard and in a pragmatic manner to address what the most people urgently concern, hence the people could have a sense of having a stake in the society. With the prosperous development of our Country, Hong Kong’s future will surely be better. Let us work together to make Hong Kong more prosperous, more balanced in development, and our society more harmonious.

August 1, 2021