MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese):
President, the Secretary said that the Employment Support Scheme can help relieve people's difficulties. But does he know that the Scheme will end in late November, and the government official concerned has already stated that another round of relief measures would not be launched? Since the end of January this year, the majority of practitioners in the tourism industry have zero income, and they have no idea when the industry will revive, yet the Employment Support Scheme will end in late November. The Secretary said that support had already been provided to enterprises; yet what about the arrangement after November? The Secretary is speechless. I hope the Secretary will review Mr Paul TSE's proposal, that is, allowing the public to make early withdrawal of MPF funds. If the Secretary does not conduct a review, and does not launch a new round of relief measures, what is to become of the tourism industry and people in great hardship? Does the Secretary have new ideas? If he has, please tell us; if he has not, he may as well say categorically that he will review the proposal concerned. Can the Secretary undertake to make such an arrangement?
SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY (in Cantonese):
President, in fact, I have already mentioned our future considerations in my main reply. Please do not forget that the original intent of the MPF System is to make savings for retirement under the principles of fixed-term savings and long-term accumulation. If we permit members of the public to withdraw MPF funds due to special economic situations, the accumulating effect (i.e. the so-called "compounding effect") will break off.
It can be seen from the figures I cited earlier that the annualized return rate of MPF over the past 20-odd years is 4.2%, which is actually higher than the inflation rate. I know that Members will definitely not be convinced. This is because when I look at the balance of my own MPF account, sometimes I would also be perplexed. Precisely for this reason, we have to examine the crux of the problem, and one of the problems is the high administration fees of MPF schemes. Therefore, with the support of a large number of Members, the first round of legislative amendment was passed some time ago to prepare for taking forward the eMPF Platform. For the next step, we will go to the Legislative Council again to present to Members the work of the next stage (i.e. the establishment of the eMPF Platform), including relevant legislative amendments.
I understand that under the current economic and social environment, members of the public must find the above message unconvincing. We also admit that there are many problems with the MPF System. Under the current economic environment, I think we should not focus on withdrawing money from MPF accounts; but identifying the crux of the issue.
High administration fee is indeed the core of the problem. Therefore, we will put efforts in this regard. We hope to get your continuous support when we consult Members and introduce the relevant Bill.