The amount of cash the Macau government will hand out is the talk of the town ahead of the first policy address to be delivered by Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on, who became chief executive on December 20.
Macau may extend its two-year tradition of a cash giveaway even when governments around the world are considering how to unwind stimulus measures, analysts say.
'The policy of doling out cash works in Macau although I am not in favour of such an approach,' veteran Macau observer Camoes Tam Chi-keung said. 'Protests were often big before the government handed out cash but only a small number of people took to the streets after receiving cash bonuses.'
The egalitarian policy of a cash bonus for everyone has little to do with spurring economic growth in Macau, the world's biggest and growing gambling hub.
Such a method of wealth-sharing helps please the masses embittered by their inability to benefit from Macau's robust growth, analysts say.
Chui will deliver the policy address in the legislature tomorrow, when residents will compare his possible cash handout with those given by his predecessor, Edmund Ho Hau-wah, in 2008 and last year.
Other key policies expected from the new leader include an increase in public housing flats, building a hospital on Taipa Island, and measures to ease traffic jams.
