Message from Legislative Councillor (Functional
Constituency Representative for Wholesale & Retail)
立法會議員之話 批發及零售界功能組別代表
Hon. Peter Shiu
邵家輝先生
The Chief Executive Mr C Y Leung delivered his fifth and last Policy Address in mid
January. Overall speaking, the Address does not bring out any proposals as to
development of wholesale and retail industry. On the contrary, the newly unveiled
initiative of abolishing offsetting mechanism of Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF)
may bring about significant implications to the industry.
To relieve employers' additional burden for severance payment (SP) and long
service payment (LSP), the government proposes that it will share part of the
expenses on SP or LSP of employers on a descending scale in the 10 years from the
implementation date. Also, the amount of SP or LSP will be adjusted downwards
from the existing entitlement of two thirds of one month’s wages to half a month's
wages as compensation for each year of service.
Even so, we are concerned that those arrangements may not help much. After all,
the industry has to set aside additional capital for SP and LSP in long term and,
therefore, is inevitable to face the pressure of cost rise.
The government has begun to discuss in detail with a variety of stakeholders in
these three months, and will have the proposal finalized in the Executive Council
by the end of June this year. I will continue to negotiate with the government, and
encourage our industry to grasp this opportunity to express opinions as well, in the
hope of getting the policy balanced and reasonable at last.
On the other hand, the Address claimed that the government's strategies on
promoting tourism have delivered results, based on slower decline in visitor
arrivals. However, I think its analysis is incomprehensive, as the number actually
included quite a lot of transit passengers. In addition, with strong Hong Kong
dollar, many tourists tend to spend more prudent, leading to an increase in the
number of visitors only, but not on their consumption. This can be reflected from
the fact that Hong Kong's total retail sales value has been falling for 22 months,
with no clear signs of rebound so far.
行政長官梁振英先生於一月中發表了他任
內第五份，亦是最後一份的施政報告。綜
觀這份報告的內容，並未見有篇幅講述如
何促進批發零售業發展，反而新公佈的取
消強積金對沖機制的計劃，則會對我們業
界帶來影響。
按有關計劃的構思，政府為減輕僱主的負
擔，會在計劃實施起計
10
年內，以遞減的
比率分擔僱主的部分額外遣散費和長服金開
支；又會修改計算遣散費和長服金的方法，
將現時以僱員服務年資乘三分之二月薪，改
為乘二分之一月薪。可是，這些措施的幫助
畢竟有限，業界始終須要長期額外為遣散費
和長服金撥備，難免面對成本上升的壓力。
在這三個月裡，政府會向持份者解釋及聽取
意見，並在今年六月底前向行政會議提交最
終方案作出決定。我會繼續就有關問題與政
府磋商，希望業界也把握機會向政府表達意
見，以冀各方最終能尋求出一個平衡合理的
方案。
另一方面，施政報告提到政府過去一年推動
旅遊業的策略見效，訪港旅客數字的跌幅已
在收窄。但是，我認為這些都只是片面景
象，因為有關數字包含了為數不少的過境旅
客，而且港元持續強勢，令遊客更審慎消
費，造成「旺丁不旺財」情況。從本港零售
總銷貨值至今連跌長達
22
個月仍未見回升跡
象，便可見一斑。
5
