The Government will launch targeted and effective poverty alleviation measures to help poor elderly people and low-income families.
Speaking to the media after chairing today's Commission on Poverty meeting, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said favourable economic and job market conditions have pushed up the poverty line of all family groups except one-person families.
The Old Age Living Allowance has helped reduce the poverty rate for seniors by 2.8 percentage points, which is much higher than the overall reduction of 0.7 percentage points.
She said the commission will investigate how to boost Hong Kong’s retirement protection, and will consult the public in due course.
On low-income families, Mrs Lam said the Chief Executive has proposed the Low-income Working Family Allowance Scheme, which is expected to benefit more than 700,000 people. She urged lawmakers to approve the plan as soon as possible.
As Hong Kong has adopted a relative approach in measuring poverty, coupled with the rapid aging of the population, Mrs Lam said it will be hard to reduce the poor population continuously. The commission will hence focus on poverty prevention measures, such as education and job training for youths.
