(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-24 20:39

In addition to the above measures, other types of one-off allowances will be paid to single parents, the disabled, and residents suffering from chronic diseases. The SAR government also decided to pay a special "livelihood subsidy" to "vulnerable families" in May and August this year. Local senior citizens will also receive an extra old-age subsidy of 1,800 patacas (225 US dollars) in May.

Despite all these financial assistance measures, concerns were still voiced by many people and a demonstration was even launched shortly after the announcement of the measures, in which the protestors called for better social welfare to help the socially disadvantage to carry through the high inflation period.

The subsidy measures can partly lessen the inflationary pressures on local residents, but these are only temporary solutions, which cannot eventually change the fact that people's quality of living has worsened due to high inflation, said Yiu Hong Ming, president of the Macao Union General of Community Association, a local non-profit organization.

He added that to address the problems caused by high inflation, the government should do more in curbing the composite CPI from further rising, such as increasing the supply of food products by ending the current market monopoly and introducing a more competitive supply system.

However, local lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong pointed out that many people still expressed their dissatisfaction after the announcement of the measures, as they deemed that the subsidies will not benefit the low income households and indirectly encourage employers to continue paying low salaries to workers.

He proposed that the SAR government should raise its minimum subsistence allowance to those socially disadvantaged households, and cut the number of migrant workers in the construction and gaming sectors so as to preserve jobs for the locals.

The average Macao people have very limited means to offset the negative effect of inflation hike since local banks have cut their deposit rates to near-zero level, noted Lau Pun Lap, president of the Macao Association of Economic Sciences.

Macao Banks have cut local deposit rates of Hong Kong dollar and pataca saving accounts following the similar Hong Kong rate move, under which depositing 10,000 patacas (around 1250 US dollars) in a local bank account will only earn just 1 pataca in annual interest income.

Depending on the development of the inflation, the SAR government may need to extend the duration of implementing its anti-inflation measures, as the inflation hike will last for a relatively long period, said Lau.

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