Gov't to revamp elderly allowance

January 14, 2020

Voiceover:

To cope with an ageing population, Chief Executive Carrie Lam has suggested to reform the Old Age Living Allowance Scheme to improve the retirement protection system.

She proposed to combine the normal scheme and higher scheme with a standard monthly payment rate of $3,585 and raise the asset limit to $500,000.

The $2 transport fare concession scheme could also be expanded by lowering the eligible age from the current 65 to 60. 

An estimated 600,000 people aged 60 to 64 can enjoy the $2 fare concession, which will involve an additional recurrent expenditure of around $1.7 billion.

Details of the implementation timetable and other improvement measures will be announced once a review of the concession scheme is completed in the first half of this year.

(To watch the video with sign language interpretation, click here.)

To cope with an ageing population, Chief Executive Carrie Lam today suggested to reform the Old Age Living Allowance Scheme (OALA) to improve the retirement protection system.

During a press conference, Mrs Lam proposed to combine the normal OALA and higher OALA with a standard monthly payment rate of $3,585 and raise the asset limit to $500,000.

The $2 transport fare concession scheme could also be expanded by lowering the eligible age from the current 65 to 60.

An estimated 600,000 people aged 60 to 64 can enjoy the $2 fare concession, which will involve an additional recurrent expenditure of around $1.7 billion.

Details of the implementation timetable and other improvement measures will be announced once a review of the concession scheme is completed in the first half of this year.