HK$10,000 subsidy for the jobless to open to application as soon as March

A Temporary Unemployment Relief will be introduced in Hong Kong for the first time to provide a one-off HK$10,000 to people who've lost their jobs.

The move came as authorities are planning to inject another HK$27 billion into its Anti-Epidemic Fund and will seek approval from the Legislative Council's finance committee during an online meeting on Tuesday.

To be eligible for a one-off payment of HK$10,000, applicants must have been jobless for at least a month. Their monthly salary before they became unemployed must have been less than HK$30,000, according to a government statement.

Including the unemployment subsidy, the SAR government said it is planning 48 measures in total to help about 67,000 businesses, 750,000 individuals and transport operators.

It said the subsidy rates for premises that were ordered to close or were restricted by social distancing measures will be doubled from those under the previous round of relief measures.

The premises include restaurants, beauty parlors, massage establishments, fitness centers and cinemas.

Depending on the size of a restaurant, each licensee can get a one-off payment of up to HK$500,000, compared with HK$250,000 in the last round of funding.

Hair salons that were recently ordered to close will be eligible for a one-off subsidy of up to HK$50,000, depending on how many workers they employ.

For transport operators, a one-off subsidy of HK$30,000 will be disbursed for every vehicle or vessel to franchised buses, local ferries, tramways, taxis, red minibusses, and green minibusses. A subsidy of HK$20,000 will be given to each kaito vessel.

The plan will also see a HK$2 discount per liter of liquefied petroleum gas for five months for LPG taxi and minibus, and reimburse 40 percent of the actual fuel cost for five months for petrol taxis and diesel minibus.

As for tenants of specific places, such as PMQ, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, Arts Spaces, Hong Kong Science Park, and Innoparks and Cyberport, they will be provided a 75 percent rental concession for a period of six months.

Upon securing the approval of the Legco Finance Committee to inject funding into the fund, the majority of the measures will be open for application as early as March and officials are aiming to release the payments from April, according to a government statement.

The Chief Secretary for Administration John Lee Ka-chiu said the government fully understands the impact the pandemic and tightening of social distancing measures have brought to the community, particularly to the grass-roots.

“As such, we have swiftly rolled out a new round of Anti-epidemic Fund. The various support measures will help safeguard jobs and preserve the economic strength of Hong Kong, such that our economy will be able to recover as soon as possible when this wave of the pandemic subsides,” he said.

The chief secretary also noted that greater emphasis is put on providing relief to individuals in this round of the fund, with over 60 percent of the total financial commitment dedicated to providing relief to individuals.