The government should increase its annual cash handout to 12,000 patacas for permanent residents and 6,000 patacas for non-permanent residents next year, legislator Jose Pereira Coutinho, who heads the Macau Civil Servants Association (ATFPM), said on Monday after a meeting with Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On at Government Headquarters.
According to the Official Gazette (BO) on Monday, residents will receive their annual “wealth-sharing” handout starting on July 4. The handout for permanent and non-permanent residents will be the same as last year, 9,000 patacas and 5,400 patacas respectively.
Speaking about the city’s civil servants, the lawmaker said that they should enjoy a four per cent pay rise next year. Asked by a reporter whether the proposed pay rise was justified considering that the city is in a recession, Coutinho said that the civil servants’ previous pay rise had failed to help them “catch up with inflation”. He also urged private entities to increase their employees’ salaries.
Currently, each point on the civil servants’ standard pay scale is worth 81 patacas.
Government workers were given a 2.5 per cent pay increase in January.
Coutinho also said he had told the chief executive his union hoped the government will build staff quarters for members of the Macau Public Security Forces (FSM).
(Macau News / TDM)
