The Government today announced that the vetting work for the Retail Sector Subsidy Scheme under the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund is nearly complete.

Among about 93,000 applications received, the Government has already notified about 66,000 applicants of the vetting results.

About $3.5 billion in subsidies has been approved so far for eligible retailers, involving some 44,000 successful applicants.

The Government is now processing about 27,000 remaining applications.

It urged applicants who received an email asking for submission of supplementary information or documents to submit the required information as soon as possible to avoid delays.

So far, more than 22,000 applications have been considered unsuccessful under the scheme as they do not meet the eligibility criteria.

The majority of the unsuccessful cases involve businesses that are not retail, such as import and export as well as commercial services and agency services, while other unsuccessful cases involve duplicate applications for identical premises.

Depending on the final vetting results of the outstanding applications, the Government anticipates that more than 60,000 applications will eventually be approved.

This number is broadly in line with the number of establishments in the retail sector as estimated by the Census & Statistics Department.

For enquiries on the vetting results, applicants can call 1836 111 or send an email.