Hong Kong entrepreneurs, politicians call for fresh round of consumption vouchers, but economists not sure they’re worth it
- Noting the coming handover anniversary, lawmaker Jeffrey Lam says: ‘HK$10,000 of celebratory consumption vouchers could be a catalyst to speed up the economic recovery’
- But ING economist Iris Pang notes: ‘Japan and Taiwan’s experience showed us that when the government repeats the measure, the benefits will become smaller and smaller.’
Ray Chui Man-wai, 40, still remembers how bad business was at his restaurant chain last summer when Hong Kong was just emerging from its fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
“Many of our restaurants were still full during rush hour, but between the peak hours, maybe just several tables in each branch were occupied,” he said.
“We could barely make ends meet, and sometimes suffered some losses too.”
Then came the first round of the government’s digital consumption voucher scheme, under which each resident was given HK$5,000 (US$642) in their Octopus, AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK accounts, to spend on goods, meals and transport.
“When the first HK$2,000 was disbursed in August, business went crazy and increased by at least 10 to 20 per cent,” said Chui, who chairs Kam Kee Holdings and runs a chain of 44 restaurants. “The restaurants’ occupancy rate was about 70 to 80 per cent even during off-peak hours.”
