China News Agency, Hong Kong, October 2. Chen Maobo, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, published a blog on the 2nd that consumer coupons have a significant effect in stimulating the consumption market and boosting the economy.

  Chen Maobo said that it coincided with the issuance of the new phase of consumer coupons on October 1, and about 6.36 million eligible citizens were issued consumer coupons, instantly injecting about 15 billion yuan (HK$, the same below) into the retail and catering market.

These days are the long weekend of National Day and Double Ninth Holidays, and the strong festive atmosphere will help increase consumer sentiment.

  He said that consumer coupons can boost the economy. Taking the first phase of consumer coupons with a scale of about 13 billion yuan in August this year as an example, in the first month of issuance, about 70% of the coupons have been used.

Of these spending, about 60% is spent on retail transactions; about 30% is spent on catering; and about 10% is spent on services.

In terms of the number of users, more than one-third of the citizens have used up their consumption coupons in full within the first month of being issued.

  However, he pointed out that although consumer coupons can play a short-term boost and help stabilize confidence, the retail market has always been affected by the economic environment.

Since the beginning of this year, the global situation has been volatile, geopolitical tensions, the supply chain has not recovered in time, inflation has been high, and major overseas central banks have raised interest rates successively. The market is worried that the global economy may enter a recession, and risk aversion has intensified. under pressure.

  He continued that external factors and the lingering local epidemic have dragged down local economic activities and people's consumption. Coupled with the high base effect, the recently announced retail sales value in August fell slightly by 0.1%; After the gender adjustment, compared with a month-on-month, there is still a continuous increase in August.

It can be seen that consumer coupons have played a supporting role to a certain extent on the weak retail market.

(Finish)