COVID-19 Fund Makes Good Progress

The 24 measures of the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund have been rolled out progressively since the approval of its $30-billion funding application.

More than $8 billion have already been disbursed under the fund.

Chief Secretary and Anti-epidemic Fund Steering Committee Chairman Matthew Cheung gave the update today, noting that good progress has been made and many businesses and members of the public are gradually receiving subsidies.

About 93,000 applications were received for the Retail Sector Subsidy Scheme launched under the fund and about $800 million in subsidies have been approved.

Subsidy disbursement is expected to be largely completed by the end of this month.

The Chief Executive on April 8 announced relief and support measures to help businesses stay afloat, keep workers in employment, relieve financial burdens of individuals and businesses and assist the economy’s recovery once the epidemic is contained.

The Government will seek the Legislative Council Finance Committee’s funding approval for $137.5 billion on April 17 to implement the measures.

The funding includes an injection of $120.5 billion to the fund to roll out the second round of assistance and relief measures for people and enterprises hard hit by the epidemic or affected by anti-epidemic measures.

“I earnestly hope that Legislative Council members would support and approve this significant funding application at the Finance Committee meeting tomorrow so that the relevant measures could be implemented as soon as possible to address the pressing needs of the community promptly,” Mr Cheung said.