Hong Kong’s finance chief urged people to head out and spend during the holidays to boost the local economy, as eligible residents are set to get the second payment of their consumption vouchers on Saturday.
The second phase of the city’s e-voucher scheme split the HK$5,000 into two or three payments, with HK$2,000 already disbursed in August.
For those who chose to receive their vouchers via stored-value payment systems, including AliPay, Tap & Go, WeChat Pay HK, HSBC’s PayMe, and Bank of China’s BoC Pay, the remaining HK$3,000 will be handed out on October 1.
Those who opted for the Octopus will get HK$2,000 in October and the last HK$1,000 on the 16th of the month after their cumulative spending has reached HK$4,000.
Speaking at a catering industry event on Friday, financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said two public holidays - the National Day and the Double Ninth Festival - are just around the corner, calling on citizens to spend happily after receiving the consumption vouchers.
He hoped citizens’ spending would help boost businesses in the catering and retail sectors.
Meanwhile, Chan said he understood that the catering industry has been hit hard during the
Covid epidemic and that authorities have rolled out several measures to support them.
He believed the industry has the tenacity to harness the innovation and lessons from the epidemic to create new opportunities.