The government of Macau, a semi-autonomous city in China, has announced that this year’s “Wealth Partaking Scheme” (WPS) will distribute 9,000 Macanese Pataca (about US$1127) to each permanent resident and 5,400 Macanese Pataca (about US$676) for each non-permanent resident.

The only condition is to have a valid or renewable resident identity card delivered by the City of Macau.

The WPS is a Macanese government program that has distributed a yearly dividend to Macanese residents since 2008. A total of 675,696 people will receive the dividend, most of whom (607,465) will receive the full amount. The size of the dividend is the same as in 2014, but the number of recipients has increased by 40,000.

The WPS is essentially a small basic income, similar to the Alaska dividend. It is mean to ensure that all Macanese share the benefits of the region’s economic development to help mitigate the effects of inflation.

Credit picture: CC Kevin Jaako

For more information about the WPS see:

Kam Leong, “Wealth Partaking Scheme Susceptible,” Macau Business Daily, June 19, 2015.

Wikipedia, “Wealth Partaking Scheme,” Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia, accessed June 29, 2015.

Karl Widerquist, “MACAU: Government Distributes Temporary Basic Income,” Basic Income News, August 23, 2014.