The Macau Government should stop issuing checks to people with resident status who “no longer have contact” with the region and who live “permanently” outside China, a deputy defended today.
In March, the authorities launched a new round of distribution of the cash contribution, which cost the public coffers 7.23 billion patacas (894.5 million euros).
More than 1 billion patacas (123.5 million euros) were distributed to “more than 100,000” people with permanent resident status, but who “reside permanently abroad”, said Leong Sun Iok.
“According to many residents”, the Government should stop issuing checks to these people, as of 2023, defended the deputy, in the period before the agenda in a session of the Legislative Assembly of Macau.
Leong, leader of the Federation of Macau Workers’ Associations, also claimed that the authorities continue to “send the check” to “some beneficiaries who died abroad”.
The Macau Statistics and Census Service told Lusa that it did not have official data on the number of residents living outside the territory, namely in Portugal.
According to the website of the Economic and Commercial Delegation of Macau in Lisbon, “hundreds” of proof of life are issued annually in Portugal to people with permanent resident status in the Chinese region.
Permanent residents of Macau receive a contribution of 10,000 patacas (about 1,249 euros) and non-permanent residents of 6,000 (about 740 euros).
The cash contribution was launched in 2008, on a provisional basis, to mitigate the effects of rising inflation, but it has been implemented on an annual basis, regardless of the income of the beneficiaries.
