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Opinion | Why e-voucher scheme is a perfect gateway for Hong Kong to embrace digital payments
- Hong Kong can no longer sideline digital payments or its associated technology while the global payment landscape develops by leaps and bounds
- The mainland has been reimagining the concept of money for years, and it is time for us to join in
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The recent HK$5,000 (US$640) shopping voucher scheme introduced by the Hong Kong government has sent the public on a temporary spending spree.
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Having rejected another cash handout, the government’s electronic voucher plan was conceived to stimulate the local economy. On the surface, it has worked.
Unlike other economic policies that take time to show their effects, distributing vouchers is normally a quick-fix fiscal policy. During the global financial crisis in 2008, cities such as Chengdu and Hangzhou gave out prepaid vouchers to their citizens to ramp up consumption.
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Some argue that doling out cash provides greater relief to hard-hit, low-income communities, but there is cultural idiosyncrasy at play: Chinese people tend to save, which means giving out cash might not produce the desired rise in consumption.
There is no point bickering about past policy. We should focus on how we can make the best use of the spending surge initiated by the voucher plan.
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